Omni Force: GUARDIANS
by NegaiFreak
Summary: When Aggregor finds a way to escape the Null Void, it's up to Sunset Shimmer and the rest of her squadron to put a stop to his dastardly plans! But Sunset's emotions have been rather unstable for a while, so will she be all right when doing this? Time and space are put to the test in this epic adventure! RATED T FOR SAFETY! FEATURING MULTIPLE PAIRINGS! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! ENJOY
1. PROLOGUE

**Hooked on a feeling yet? Hey everyone, I hope the summer's gone well for all of you! After finishing the latest chapter of "Omni Force: WAR", I realized that I had made the grave error of declaring this story as my 45** **th** **story published on FanFiction when I wanted to do other stuff before really getting into it during 2018. So why not drop an interesting prologue that leaves the viewers with questions?**

 **You may think that this is somewhat odd of me to start this big epic and leave it until 2018, but I've been holding off on a few other stories that I think need some proper attention as well. So anyways, it's once again time for the Omni Force to go and save the multiverse! This is "Omni Force: GUARDIANS".**

 **OMNI FORCE GUARDIANS**

"Time… is spiraling out of control in every world, every dimension…" a male, British-sounding voice began to explain within a void of white as a man with black hair and white sideburns stood. Both palms of his regular and mechanical palms were pressed against a small cane that touched the ground beside his feet. His attire was very steampunk-like with his decorative lab coat, brown knee pads, and pouches upon his shoulders and waist. He let out a deep sigh as he grabbed the pair of goggles around his neck with his left hand. "Ever since Eon stole the Nega-MPG from the Plumbers, he has been able to travel to several different worlds, gaining a new ally he deems worthy from each one of them," he said, "Timelines are not being drastically changed by him thought, and that's precisely why he's hard to follow," he mentioned, narrowing his eyes, "I had heard from Benjamin that you were an expert in time-related instances before your physical form exceeded its time," he added as he turned around, smiling at the long-haired person he was talking to, "My theory is that you'll be of great help to the multiverse…" he started to finish, "Miss Milkovich," he concluded, placing his hand onto his chest.

The woman he had talked to was pale-skinned with dark purple hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a rather revealing outfit that consisted of a white headband, long black sleeves with the section from her elbow down bearing chunky, gray wrist-guards, and a tabard-like garment that exposed her back, which had a blue marking over a large, x-shaped scar. Her attire was open on both sides of her body except for a small attachment at her waist, as she also wore long black boots that left her upper thighs bare.

"I don't understand…" she uttered afterwards, evidently astonished by the idea of the proposal, "Why would you ask _me_ of all people to help you in this endeavor?" she questioned with a look of concern in her eyes.

"It's come to my attention that there are not many people who have capabilities of manipulating time for the greater good," he responded, glancing to the side in thought for a moment, "Or at least… have changed their ways for the greater good…" he corrected as he smirked.

"That's… very kind of you…" she replied, while an ashamed expression appeared upon her face, "but even if I did want to help you, I cannot," she stated as she held out her hands, looking at them, "With all the great sins I bear in this world, I can't possibly be the one to try and protect it," she claimed as the time walker before listened carefully, "Besides…" she continued, "you have likely seen what has happened to me after I sacrificed my time in order to save others," she pointed out to him.

"True," he answered, "I understand that by using the Last Ages spell that your body has aged significantly to a drastic extent," he noted, placing his left hand onto his chin, "Yet this form of yours still exists…" he added to her as he grinned. She blinked in surprise before letting out a small chuckle, managing to smile a little.

"Yes, this body exists within the gap of time," she started to say, "but should I attempt to return to the actual timeline…" she kept going, closing her hands into fists, "it will crumble away into nothing…" she told him somberly.

"Only in _your_ timeline, my dear," he responded immediately, causing her to perk up in shock, "You may not be able to regain your younger form in the world of magic, but perhaps you regain it for a time in another," he suggested cleverly as she looked quite stunned.

"I'm flattered that you would be so considerate to do something like this for someone like me…" she confessed, tearing up a little.

"Don't think that there is no way for you to repent for your sins," Paradox affirmed to her, "Protecting the cosmos of an infinite number of worlds is a task that has been bestowed onto me," he explained, "but I cannot possibly do that alone," he stated as she covered her quivering lips with her right hand, "Finding you was my first step," he said, trotting up closer to her, "Now I need to inform you of what our mission entails, should you accept it that is," he mentioned, "It is your choice," he finished. Ultear just glanced down at the white void she was in with him, remembering all of her actions in the past that led up to her sacrifice, letting a few tears fall from her eyes.

"If this means I can have another chance to protect the people I care about," she began, "then I'd be honored to help you," she said, smiling a little.

"Splendid!" the scientist replied, reaching into one of his pockets with his left hand, "To begin with, Eon is a time traveler like I am, but has gotten greater access to the multiverse," he told her as her expression changed into an astonished one, "He will be our main target later however," he pointed out, confusing her as she blinked, "We have a more simple matter to deal with back in my world's main dimension," he mentioned, "One who's gained the power of time to rewrite history," he added, much to the former Crime Sorciere mage's disbelief.

"And our goal is to stop this individual, correct?" she guessed as he pulled out his MPG, activating it by pressing its center with his thumb, followed by tapping a single icon on the holographic screen that appeared above it.

"Rather we will assist those who _will_ stop him," he corrected, beckoning her to follow him through the green portal that showed up instantaneously. She did so, as the vortex disappeared soon after they had left.

 **OPENING**

" **Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra**

 _ **0:00 – 0:31 = Opens with Sunset Shimmer waking up the bedroom of her apartment thanks to the sound of her radio, followed by her getting ready for the day by getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing her teeth, and heading outside, all while dancing to the music she's listening to.**_

 _ **0:32 – 0:48 = Cuts to Sunset arriving at Omni Force Tower to meet up with her squadron: Alain Regulus, Kyoya Tategami, Applejack, Monkey D. Luffy, Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Star Butterfly, including Lector and Frosch. They all smile at her, while she does the same back, but her expression shifts into a frown once she passes them by.**_

 _ **0:49 – 1:09 = Sunset starts thinking about recent events regarding everything that happened during the conflict with the Marines and the turmoil between her own teammates, finished with her remembering herself in tears at one point.**_

 _ **1:10 – 1:28 = Cut to Aggregor amassing a new robot army, including those from the Null Void prison as it burns in the background, while he smiles maniacally.**_

 _ **1:29 – 1:44 = Cuts to Sting wrapping his arm around Sunset in the cockpit of the Rustbucket III as it takes off into space, making her smile as she pilots the ship past the moon. All of a sudden, several enemy ships appear to their shock, appearing to surround them. As stunned as they are, they let off smirks, knowing that they're about to have some fun.**_

 _ **1:45 – 2:17 = The Rustbucket goes into the plethora of ships firing numerous blasts and making maneuvers to avoid others. Sunset makes it do a 360̊ in a nose dive as the rest of the enemy ships crash into each other and explode.**_

 _ **2:18 – 2:35 = Cuts to the entire group lying in a grassy field of another planet, observing the beautiful night sky as they smile. Kyoya has his arm around Applejack, while Sakura scoots closer to Sasuke. Sting and Sunset are somewhat close, but do keep a considerable distance, which Lector notices worriedly.**_

 _ **2:36 – 2:52 = Cuts to Aggregor taking on the entire squadron, first knocking Alain away with the end of his spear before punching Kyoya in the face. He then proceeds to dodge a kick from Applejack and ends up throwing Luffy onto her as he attempted to grab him.**_

 _ **2:53 – 3:13 = Sting and Rogue perform a White Shadow Dragon Flash Fang, which is absorbed by Aggregor as he smirks menacingly. He attempts to send it back, but it's blocked by Sasuke in his Perfect Susanoo form, followed by Sakura, Star, and Sunset diving down at their enemy with a look of fierceness in each of their eyes.**_

 _ **3:14 – 3:43 = Cuts to Professor Paradox and Ultear showing the second squadron the span of timelines that exist in Ben's universe, even taking them back to the day he had first fought Aggregor when he had mutated. They then appear in the Forge of Creation, now carrying weapons and ammo as they are prepared to take down their target together.**_

 **END OPENING**

In a dark room filled with nothing but silence as a certain individual dressed in blue prison clothes was sitting in a metal chair, with his hands and feet restrained by the metal cuffs upon it. He had an appearance similar to that of a human, with flesh-colored horns upon his head and red eyes ringed with black marks. His long black hair hung pressed between his back and the seat as it slowly moved forward like it was on a conveyor belt. It stopped after a moment with a click, while he remained silent with his eyes completely shut. Spotlights began to turn on, centering onto him as he finally decided to see where he had been taken to.

"Aggregor of Osmos Five," a dignified male voice began as he looked at the person sitting at the judge's bench in the room, realizing that he was now in a court hearing, "you are here today to receive your sentence for your crimes against the galaxy… and likely the whole universe," he stated, being a Sylonnoid with a silver color scheme for the metal upon him, "Now before we do get under way," he continued as he was observing a holographic monitor in front of himself, which disappeared soon afterwards, "I'd like to remind you not to move around too much in that seat of yours…" he advised seriously, narrowing his eyes, "You so much as twitch, and ten thousand volts of electricity will be coursing right into you," he threatened. The Osmosian smirked in response, closing his hands into fists to end up getting shocked instantaneously.

"ERGGGHHH!" he grunted before the light subsided, allowing him to breathe as smoke emitted from his form.

"Well now that you've given us a demonstration of how secure you are," the artificial humanoid started to say, putting his hands together, "we'll begin," he declared. As he began to speak of the criminal's punishment, he glanced around the room to see the robotic guards strewn out about the room, seeing eight of them on the rafters above and six together surrounding the only exit from the area.

' _Hmph,_ ' he inwardly scoffed, letting off a small grin.

"Bivalvan, Galapagus, P'andor, Andreas, and Ra'ad have all filed their claims against you, Aggregor," the official listed off from the screen he was looking at, "You imprisoned them in order to absorb their energies, even taking their entire beings to use for your personal gain," he explained, "You also used their powers to try and steal the abilities of a newborn Celestialsapien in order to potentially recreate the universe," he mentioned with narrowed eyes, "So," he kept going, "you have anything left to say for yourself?" he questioned to him.

"No, your Honor," he responded after a moment, suddenly getting zapped by his chair again.

"Very well," the judge concurred as the defendant grunted again, appearing to be writhing in agony, "Since you're so eager to hear what your verdict is…" he grumbled, letting the holographic screen disappear once again, "I hereby sentence you to a lifetime imprisonment here in the Null Void, and you may be subjected to the death penalty should the intergalactic court see it fit to your crimes," he told him, bringing down his gavel as it gave off a resounding echo through the entire room. Aggregor merely said nothing as he closed his eyes, while his fingertips had sparks of electricity emanating from them.

"Before I go…" he began, catching the Sylonnoid's attention, "there's one last thing I'd like to say…" he stated, causing him to arch an eyebrow.

"No matter what you say now, you're not getting off scot free," he retorted while grinning.

"Oh, I know…" the psychopath replied eerily, surprising him as he saw him get electrocuted once more, "AAAAAHHHH!" he screamed out of agony for a moment before closing his hands into fists, starting to laugh, "You forget that Osmosians can absorb even the simplest of energies…" he muttered, smiling crazily as he was then enveloped in an explosion of smoke.

" _Prepare to fire!_ " one of the robot sentries commanded, enticing the others to all aim their blasters at the veil of white that just appeared. The official in the room looked on with a grimace, wondering what exactly had happened. When the smoke finally vanished, he gasped to see the criminal standing there, coated in the silvery metal from his chair, which had been blown apart into bits.

"Sh-Shoot him!" the alien prosecutor stuttered in demand, followed by the machines firing beams of light at him from their weapons. However, they did nothing to him as his newly acquired armor nullified their attacks.

"A rather _basic_ use of my powers, but an efficient one at that…" he noted before turning around and rushing at the guards, not taking any damage in the slightest. He first struck one's head off instantly with his right fist, followed by taking its blaster and using it to attack two more of them before dodging more shots from the remainder of the soldiers. Forming his left arm into a sharp blade, he slashed through them all as parts of their metallic bodies fell to the ground.

"A-Ah…!" the judge uttered frightfully, while the sentries upon the rafters began firing their own shots. Using the coating of metal over his form, the convicted villain deflected each blast sent towards him, followed by grabbing a pair of weapons lying upon the floor. He hit each of his targets upward with every shot he took, seeing them crash lifelessly against the ground below once they fell. Sparks emitted from their busted bodies as he walked forwards amidst them, crushing the armaments he had in his hands as the silvery armor disappeared from his form.

"Looks as if I can't maintain basic forms of energy for very long…" he realized, glancing at his hands, "Not that it matters…" he grumbled with a smirk, leaping up to the bench where the judge was sitting.

"AH!" he yelped, about to fall out of his seat until he was grasped by the neck by the person he convicted.

"In the case of this high tech facility," he began, "I don't need massive quantities of energy to obliterate you all…" he stated with venom in his tone, scaring the official as he shook.

"P-Please…" he begged, trying to free himself from the Osmosian's grip.

"I don't recall you giving me mercy…" he retorted, tightening the hold he had on the Sylonnoid, making him cough in agony before finally falling faint. The criminal dropped his dead body onto the floor, smirking evilly as he ripped his clothes off.

" _Locate and subdue the prisoner immediately!_ " a sentry called out as others were rushing about the prison. The inmates all began chattering amongst themselves, wondering what was going on in the midst of all the confusion. Elsewhere in the armory of the jail, Aggregor was now donning a brown, knee-length, open-chested tunic, baggy jeans, and black calf-high boots. A spear-like weapon was resting in his hands as he grinned, walking out to the sound of the guards charging towards him.

"Music to my ears…" he uttered as his armament glowed an ominous red. In a matter of moments, several explosions were enveloping the entire prison, as flames were spreading from one place to another. The screams of the inmates echoed from within all throughout the burning building as the criminal made his way outside, taking a deep breath of air from the Null Void space. "So much time has passed since I was robbed of gaining ultimate power…" he noted to himself while closing his right hand into a fist, "Now I'll take everything back…" he declared, cackling as he left the area that once held him to burn in flames.

 **PROLOGUE**

The sound of the alarm buzz rang throughout the bedroom of a certain girl with messy red and yellow hair, ruffled from her sleep as a trail of drool left her lips. The dormitory itself was in an organized fashion, as framed pictures lined her dresser, and her guitar case was neatly propped against the door.

"Ergh…" she grunted as her eyes began to flutter open, having heard the repeating beeps again and again. She turned to her left and reached her hand over, pressing the button on the clock to stop it. She then took notice of one of the images there, being her dressed in her blue graduation gown alongside her friends, as they had finished their journey through high school over a few years ago. Now they had gone off to start their own careers, but they were still able to keep in touch and get together every once in a while. Yet today was different for her, especially as a certain date was nearing for her and a particular person. She shoved that thought aside as she got up her divan, taking off her pajamas as she went into the bathroom.

Moments later, she was showering up, washing her hair to moisten it out and make sure it was untangled from the mess it was earlier. She later rubbed the bar of soap all over her naked form of amber skin, as the suds moved down her legs all the way into the drain.

"Ah!" she yelped in pain seconds later after moving the bar across her left leg, dropping it in the process as she keeled over slightly. Her thigh had a deep scar running through it along with several others across her arms, shoulders, legs, and her torso. A memory of herself crying in agony as tears streamed down her face flashed through her mind, making her gasp before breathing rapidly from shock. The water continued to pour out of the shower head as she stood back up, trembling before getting back onto her feet and proceeding to rinse her form.

After enjoying a quick breakfast of buttered toast and a homemade latte, she went ahead and brushed her teeth, having gotten dressed into her day clothes beforehand. She then went into her room and grabbed her satchel and her guitar case, having their straps go over her shoulders. She winced again as both the straps and her clothes were pressing against the scars she had. Disregarding her discomfort, she ventured out of the door to her apartment, locking it up with her keys and leaving.

' _Just don't go thinking about it…_ ' she advised inwardly as she put on a motorcycle helmet. Moments later, she was riding a sport motorcycle of crimson red downtown, racing ahead past cars safely until she came to a stop at a light. She took notice of a woman and who appeared to be her child along the crosswalk right before her, seeing them happily smile. A deep sigh escaped her lips before the green light came about, allowing her to drive ahead.

"THAT IS AMAZING!" the booming voice of Pinkie Pie exclaimed from the café as she was sitting alongside Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle at an outside table. The latter three each were cradling a baby in their arms, as they were all fast asleep.

"Pinkie, shush!" the spectacled woman yelled quietly, holding her right index finger in front of her lips to entice her to immediately close her mouth, "We're all as excited as you are," she pointed out, "but we need to keep our voices down for the babies…" she whispered as she looked back at her precious daughter snoozing soundly in her arms.

"Sorry…" the partier woman apologized as she shrank back down into her seat.

"Oh, I can hardly blame you for reacting that way," the fashionista mentioned while from afar, Sunset had parked her bike at the curb, "I just wish I could've told _everyone_ about this," she admitted as the Omni Force squadron leader quickly set her bike down and took out the keys, taking off her helmet before trotting over to her friends, "With Rainbow Dash gone and Sunset missing for the moment, it just doesn't feel the same…" she added in a saddened tone.

"I'm here now," the red and yellow haired woman chimed in, catching their attentions as they saw her come up to them, seating herself down at an open chair.

"Sunset!" the group exclaimed in greeting quietly, making her smile a little. As they talked for a while about what had been going on as of late, the infant within the cowgirl's arm began to awaken.

"Buh…" she uttered to cause her mother to perk up.

"Sounds to me like someone's a little hungry," she noted with a grin while standing up from the chair at the table, "Be right back," she promised before walking off.

"Being a parent must be a lot of work," Pinkie concurred as she arched an eyebrow.

"It's not too bad," Fluttershy confessed as her baby boy was still sleeping in her arms, "Dylan here does tend to wake us up in the middle of the night though…" she added somewhat nervously while chuckling.

"This little one is always laughing non-stop," Twilight mentioned, while her child had her eyes shut, "It's always a hassle to get her sleeping when she's giggling all the time…" she grumbled, frowning a little, "I'd blame it on her father's genetics, but that wouldn't make sense," she said, causing the others aside from the former pony to laugh quietly in agreement.

"So Rainbow Dash couldn't make it?" she inquired, catching everyone's attention as they glanced over at her.

"She's still learning how to raise that little cutie of hers with her husband off working," Rarity answered, "Speaking of which…" she continued while smiling ever so brightly, "I'M PREGNANT!" she squeaked loudly, followed by getting simultaneously shushed by the scientist and the animal whisperer, "Oh, sorry…" she sheepishly apologized, blushing out of embarrassment.

"That's great, Rarity," Sunset congratulated as she smiled lightly, which her spectacled friend took notice of, "How'd you convince Rogue to go through with things?" she asked curiously.

"I may have caught him by surprise the night after Rainbow introduced us to her little darling…" she confessed while fidgeting with her fingers, causing the other girls to look at each other with skeptical expressions upon what she was implying, "Oh, it was the most _enchanting_ evening of my life!" she added in a whisper.

"Congrats, Rarity," the red and yellow haired woman complimented as her hands rested on the table, "I can only imagine what that feels like…" she confessed, narrowing her eyes as she clenched her fists tightly.

"But darling, aren't you and Rook-?" The fashionista stopped her question once she noticed her friend tense up a little upon hearing the name, making the others perk up as well.

"Sunset, are you okay?" the spectacled woman asked while arching an eyebrow.

"Huh…" the former pony sighed deeply as Applejack re-approached the table with her daughter, "I'm not sure I can answer that question right now…" she admitted, much to the confusion of the others as they all glanced at one another.

"What do you mean?" Pinkie questioned innocently, "It's just a yes or no question…" she pointed out, rubbing her fingers through her hair.

"I mean that my feelings have been pretty jumbled ever since last year," the Omni Force squadron leader responded as she stood up from her seat.

"Sunset…" Twilight uttered, appearing to prepare a question until she saw her start to turn around.

"I gotta get to work soon," she told her friends as she put on her helmet, heading towards her bike, "I'll keep in touch if you wanna meet up again," she promised.

"Okay…" Fluttershy replied, blinking out of surprise.

"Huh," the partier woman blurted out, folding her arms over her chest, "That's not our normal Sunset…" she mentioned while gesturing towards her.

"She's been like that since that whole debacle with those vile Marines from Luffy's world going into Ben's…" the fashionista added, seeing get onto her motorcycle.

"Must've gotten a bad scar or two," the cowgirl implied as she went up to them.

"I don't know," the spectacled woman responded with a shake of her head, "I think it's something deeper that she doesn't want to tell us about…" she explained to them, "Something that she wants to deal with herself…" she added as they all looked on nervously. In the meantime, the red and yellow haired woman let the engine of her vehicle rev up for a moment, readying the throttle on the handlebars. Just then, she noticed a greenish glow coming from her bag, enticing her to take off her headgear and set it down. She reached into the satchel and pulled out her MPG, which shined brightly until she pressed its center with her right thumb, causing a small hologram to appear over it.

" _Hey Sunset,_ " Ben Tennyson greeted, looking as if he was walking from the image's projection, " _You got a second?_ " he asked.

"Sure, what's up?" she replied in question, noticing how his tone seemed a little concerned.

" _There's been a breakout from one of the Null Void prisons,_ " he told her, making her widen her eyes in shock, " _I'll fill you in on all the details about the guy when you can get here,_ " he added, " _Just thought I'd let you know beforehand,_ " he mentioned to her as she blinked.

"I'll head right over after work," she responded, causing him to grin before the hologram disappeared from the device, "Huh…" she breathed out, putting it away into her bag and zooming off on her vehicle.

 **X**

After a rather standard day of work at the sushi stand where she helped create the very popular food, the former pony headed to the universe of the Omni Force leader through a green portal, driving in on her bike as she zoomed through the city streets. She glanced up at the tower ahead through her visor, having not seen it in quite a while. It looked to have been repaired completely from the conflict against the Navy, which had been something she had kept purged from her thoughts for quite a while.

' _Don't… Just don't even think about it…_ ' she pleaded to herself as she drove up to the edifice, entering through a garage door-like opening that led to a hangar filled with multiple forms of vehicles, much like a hangar bay. She parked her motorcycle and put down its kickstand, leaving her helmet behind as she went over to the elevator doors. As she was about to depart, she glanced back at the vessels and other such methods of transportation, remembering how it was once a sight where a fight between her friends had taken place. She disregarded it however, heading into the elevator as it opened its accesses for her to enter, taking her up several floors rather quickly. The Mount Rushmore monument outside shined brightly thanks to the sunlight, but it didn't bring a smile to Sunset's face as she still appeared downcast. Her expression remained focused though as she closed her hands into fists.

"Glad you could make it," Ben said in greeting once the doors to the elevator opened, causing her to perk up and see him there grinning.

"Yeah, thanks," she responded, letting off a small smile, "So what's the deal with this guy?" she asked while walking alongside him.

"Well he's more than just bad news…" he answered as he pulled out a small tablet, turning it on and handing it off to her, "This guy's name is Aggregor," he told her as she looked at the image of the criminal upon the screen, "He's an Osmosian who Gwen, Kev, and I had duked it out against years ago," he mentioned, while she continued to observe the data upon the device, "With him breaking out of the Null Void…" he continued somewhat nervously, catching the attention of his best friend as she saw the sweat dripping down from his face, "I think we're gonna be in a lot of trouble…" he admitted as they both came to a stop.

"You haven't beaten him before, have you?" she guessed, getting a simple nod in reply from him.

"He could've gained the power of a Celestialsapien if it weren't for Kevin that time…" he pointed out, causing her to widen her eyes a little while also arching her eyebrow.

"Anyways, you want me to try and deal with him this time?" she asked, changing the subject for the moment.

"Sort of," he semi-answered, folding his arms over his chest, "I can't go after him without running the risk of giving him the powers of all my aliens on a silver platter from these watches," he pointed out while gesturing towards one of his Biomnitrix gauntlets, "yet your magic could end up absorbed by him, too," he mentioned, placing his hand onto his chin, "That's why I want you _and_ your squad to take him down," he stated to make her nod in agreement.

"Certainly sounds like this guy's worth the trouble…" she admitted as they restarted their trek down the hall, "You know where he is?" she questioned.

"Somewhere in the Milky Way," he replied, surprising her a little, "You'd be surprised at how many people have access to Null Void portals these days…" he grumbled while scratching the back of his head, "Fortunately for us," he kept going, "we can track any Null Void neutrino projections anywhere in the quadrant," he stated, "And as luck would have it," he continued, "the Null Void itself is a parallel world to the Milky Way," he finished with a grin.

"So once a portal goes off…" Sunset started to imply, "you'll know where he's heading," she said, handing the tablet of information back to him.

"Exactly," he replied as he took the device and began to head off, "You're probably gonna be taking a ship, so I'll get in touch with Kevin about letting you take the Rustbucket for a few days," he explained to her.

"A space adventure, huh?" she guessed, folding her arms over her chest, "That… sounds like fun," she admitted, frowning however as the Omni Force leader perked up.

"Sunset, you don't have to put on a brave face for me," he noted, causing her to instantly lift her head up in shock, "I know that it's almost been a year since everything went down for you," he mentioned as her expression turned into an ashamed one, "You can do this, right?" he inquired to her as she glanced off to the side.

"I'll… see what I can do…" she responded somewhat reluctantly. Ben grinned a little as he went on his way, leaving his best friend behind as she sighed deeply, turning around as tears were forming in her eyes. She wiped them away quickly though as she trekked back. A while later, she was moving her motorcycle up into the cargo bay of a ship, glancing around to see the multiple weapons and the blue muscle car within it.

"Car's off limits," a voice chimed in, causing her to yelp in surprise before turning to see the Osmosian Plumber standing there dressed in a black uniform.

"Oh, Kevin…" she breathed out in greeting, placing her left hand over her chest while using her right leg to set her bike's kickstand, "You scared me…" she confessed, chuckling a little.

"Sorry 'bout that," he apologized, going over to her side, "Your quarters are gonna down near the cockpit, so you can set up there," he told her, gesturing forward, "And make sure you let your guys know that they'll need to bring their own stuff to sleep with," he mentioned, "This isn't a hotel…" he grumbled, causing her to laugh a little.

"Yeah…" she agreed, looking away for a moment, "I hear that Ben's been thinking about getting you to join the Omni Force…" she added as she brushed her fingers through her hair.

"I already am," the mechanic replied, waving his arm for her to follow him as she blinked in surprise.

"Really?" she questioned with an arched eyebrow, "Wow, I must be _way_ out of the loop…" she realized, letting out a sigh.

"Don't worry about it," the dark, long haired man reassured, "No one can really blame you for staying on the sidelines since-" He stopped his sentence upon noticing her appearing more downcast, making him rub the back of his head nervously. "Well, you know what I mean…" he concurred.

"So how many squadrons are we at now?" Sunset asked, changing the subject.

"Five," Kevin replied, sticking up his fingers as they ventured into the rather spacious cockpit, "We might be at six soon if Gaara can convince Ruby to be a leader, and… uh…" he tried to continue, only to receive a blank stare of confusion from the former pony, "Well, you get the idea…" he noted, making her smile.

"Thanks, Kevin," she said in gratitude, "I think I know the standard controls since I've worked with Rook's ship…" she pointed out as he seemed somewhat surprised.

"All right," he uttered with a shrug, walking off, "Ben'll call you when he's got Aggregor's location," he told her.

"Yep," she replied while nodding. Once he left, she sat down in the pilot's seat, adjusting it to her best fit as she got her hands onto the controls. It had been some time since she was in such a position, but she genuinely smiled as she got back onto her feet, putting down her satchel and guitar case. She opened up the latter and pulled out her instrument, seating herself back down and strumming a few strings. " _The sun is setting… and you're right here by my side…_ " she sang as a few tears were starting to fall from her eyes.

 **ENDING**

" **The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac**

 _ **0:00 – 0:27 = Opens with the sun rising in the background as Sunset and Applejack are playing on their instruments. Meanwhile, the other second squad members are observing the sunrise within the Rust Bucket III, smiling all the while.**_

 _ **0:28 – 0:52 = Cut to the entire squadron playing the song on stage in front of a crowd of people; alien and human alike. Sting is on another guitar beside Sunset, Kyoya's playing the drums alongside his girlfriend, Sakura has a tambourine, Sasuke's on a keyboard, Rogue has a bass guitar, and Alain and Star both have microphones. The crowd is clapping along to the music, while Luffy is swinging around from above with a cheeky smile on his face.**_

 _ **0:53 – 1:20 = Cut to a meteor shower hurdling towards the site of the concert as the group continues to play their music.**_

 _ **1:21 – 1:35 = Lector and Frosch take notice of the incoming meteors, panicking a little before rushing towards the stage through the crowd.**_

 _ **1:36 – 2:08 = As the group continues playing, the exceeds fly over and direct their attention to the oncoming meteors, shocking them a little before Sunset pulls off a wide grin of excitement.**_

 _ **2:09 – 2:48 = Cut to Sunset entering Phoenix Drive and obliterating most of the meteors with a single large beam of light. Luffy follows up with a Gum-Gum Elephant Gatling, and Sasuke uses his Perfect Susanoo to take down a few more. The crowd is cheering all the while at the sight as it looks like sparkling dust falling down.**_

 _ **2:49 – 3:22 = All of a sudden, the sky darkens and the group notices that there is an army of robot soldiers led by Aggregor approaching them from afar. They all drop their instruments and get into ready stances before rushing off to face him.**_

 _ **3:23 – 3:53 = The fight begins with Alain calling on Charizard and using his Demon Slayer magic with his flames to scorch by a barrage of enemies coming toward them. Kyoya shoots Fang Leone through several sentries before letting out a Lion Gale Roar thanks to his own magic. Applejack kicks aside a few more of them, while Luffy charges through several as he uses a Jet Gatling to knock them all away. Sting and Rogue use White Shadow Dragon Silk to rush by even more. Sasuke lets many of them burn away thanks to his Amaterasu, while Sakura bashes through more with her fists. Star shoots down Rainbow Fist Punches from above, flying thanks to her fully grown Mewberty wings.**_

 _ **3:54 – 4:27 = Cut to Sunset facing off against Aggregor, dodging an attempted spear strike before engaging with him in close quarters combat, resulting in him grabbing her, about to steal her energy away. However, Sting jumps in and kicks him back, taking hold of Sunset's hand. Her eyes tremble before she smiles to see him and everyone else there to help, performing a White Dragon Equestrian Flash with him to strike Aggregor in a dust filled explosion, while the blue sky returns with the bright sun.**_

 **END**

 **Well, what a great start. Now I should remind everyone that I won't be working on this until I've gotten a few things out of the way in terms of "Omni Force: WAR", "Pokémon Sun & Moon: The Challenge of a Lifetime", and a bunch of other stories that need to get caught up to speed. Plus, I want to start another story that'll probably have one of my best written battles to date. **

**What will that be? Well, you'll find out soon! Leave any comments or questions in the review section, and I'll catch you all later!**


	2. TRIP

**NegaiFreak: Boy, it's been a while since a chapter of this story came out, huh? In fact, it's almost been two years!**

 **Sunset Shimmer: Well, you kinda had to wait…**

 **NegaiFreak: Yeah. There are some heavy "Omni Force: WAR" spoilers in this chapter. The reason this was published so long ago was because there was a safety net in terms of spoilers. But now… there really isn't.**

 **Sunset Shimmer: So get ready for a wild ride. This is the second chapter of "Omni Force: GUARDIANS".**

 **OMNI FORCE: GUARDIANS**

The ocean breeze danced with the waves of the sea just outside of New Marineford. Within an isolated room of the sick bay was Tsuru, who had bandages wrapped around the top of her head as she sat upon her bed.

"You look well," she commented towards Sunset, who was seated beside her bed.

"Your wound's almost healed?" she asked back, looking over at the vice admiral's torso.

"In about a week, I'll be going through rehabilitation," she replied as she placed her hand upon her torso, "Though honestly, I'd rather just rest," she admitted, leaning back into the comfort of her bed, "I'm an old fossil that's just cheating death at this point…" she muttered with a chuckle. Sunset said nothing. "Didn't that Kizaru shoot your eye out?" Tsuru asked curiously. Sunset perked up.

"Oh… no…" she stammered, pointing to her right eye, "This is artificial," she told her, "When you have connections like I do, you tend to get a lot of benefits," she admitted sheepishly, "But sometimes… those aren't enough…" she added as her expression shifted into a frown.

"You're still hurting?" Tsuru guessed. Sunset just nodded. "Well, I'm not sure if I can help you with that…" she confessed.

"You don't need to," Sunset assured as she stood up, "I just… need time for myself…" she claimed as she wiped away the beads of sweat forming on her brow, "I should probably go," she concluded, starting to walk towards the door.

"…Sakazuki was killed," Tsuru mentioned, causing Sunset to stop, "He was going to be court-martialed and tried anyway, but…" she continued, only to cease her talking as she saw Sunset shiver a little, "I would tell your friends to be careful," she advised, "A lot's changing in this huge world of ours," she pointed out, letting off a breath of exasperation.

"…Yeah," Sunset agreed, "I'll promise to try and stay out of your way," she said as she looked back at the vice admiral.

"Hm," Tsuru chuckled, "Not sure if I should believe that…" she admitted with another laugh. Sunset shivered again. "They haven't found a sign of a Magma-Magma Fruit either…" she mentioned. She looked up to see the door close. Sunset was gone. "Huh…" she sighed. She only hoped that the girl would be okay. The waterlilies in the vase beside her bed were a wonderful gift.

Sunset's eyes opened. She groaned as she sat up in the cockpit's pilot seat, adjusting the right strap of her light blue tank top. When she received her new memory magic, most of her dreams consisted of old memories that popped up every now and again. And she hated it. She then heard knocking.

"Hey! Open up!" Kevin's voice shouted.

"Be right there!" Sunset cried out, getting her sneakers on before standing up. She accidentally knocked her guitar aside with her foot as she walked by, letting out a long yawn. Sleep was hard to come by over the past year. As the hangar door opened moments later, she rubbed her eyes before seeing Kevin there, tossing her a set of keys. She caught them with a fumble.

"Okay, so Ben said I can trust you with the car," he told her, much to her surprise as she blinked.

"Uh… thanks…" she replied, putting the keys in her pocket.

"And we got word on Aggregor's location," Kevin mentioned. Now Sunset's attention was peaked.

"Already? Where?" she asked quickly.

"Incarcecon," Kevin replied. Sunset's eyes widened.

"Why there of all places?" she asked instantly. For Aggregor to be located at the most highly secure super-max prison in all of the Milky Way was certainly odd to her…

"Don't know," Kevin answered with his hands at his hips, "All we know is that he was on the station's radars before the comms blacked out," he told her.

"Hmm…" she hummed in thought, narrowing her eyes a little, "Guess I should call my team in-"

"Already taken care of," Kevin interjected to her surprise, "Ben didn't know if you were gonna wanna call them in for this," he pointed out, "I mean… do all of them know about what happened?" he asked. Sunset froze. Almost a year had gone by and half of her squadron had no idea as to the extent of her injuries. Both physical and mental.

"No… it's fine…" she tried to reassure, "I uh… need a few minutes…" she told him rather anxiously.

"All right," Kevin responded with a shrug, turning around and heading down the ramp, "Remember, no scratches!" he called out.

"Got it," Sunset replied half-heartedly. She didn't really care for attempting to touch Kevin's car. Her mind was elsewhere. She was inwardly freaking out about this situation.

' _I wish I could've gotten up sooner and called in who I wanted to come…_ ' she muttered to herself, pacing around the hangar, ' _I just hope Kevin didn't tell them about how I'm doing right now…_ ' she pleaded through her thoughts. Nevertheless, she had to make do with what she'd have. If Ben could never beat Aggregor, the odds of her and her team stopping him were low…

 **OPENING**

" **Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra**

 _ **0:00 – 0:31 = Opens with Sunset Shimmer waking up in the bedroom of her apartment thanks to the sound of her radio, followed by her getting ready for the day by getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing her teeth and heading outside, all while dancing to the music she's listening to.**_

 _ **0:32 – 0:48 = Cuts to Sunset arriving at Omni Force Tower to meet up with her squadron: Alain Regulus, Kyoya Tategami, Applejack, Monkey D. Luffy, Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Star Butterfly, including Lector and Frosch. They all smile at her, while she does the same back, but her expression shifts into a frown once she passes them by.**_

 _ **0:49 – 1:09 = Sunset starts thinking about recent events regarding everything that happened during the conflict with the Marines and the turmoil between her own teammates, finished with her remembering herself in tears at one point.**_

 _ **1:10 – 1:28 = We cut to Aggregor amassing a new army, including those in the Null Void prison as it burns in the background, while he smiles maniacally.**_

 _ **1:29 – 1:44 = The next scene shows Sting wrapping his arm around Sunset in the cockpit of the Rustbucket III as it takes off into space, making her smile as she pilots the ship past the moon. All of a sudden, several enemy ships appear to their shock, surrounding them. As stunned as they are initially, they let off smirks, knowing that they're about to have some fun.**_

 _ **1:44 – 2:17 = The Rustbucket zooms ahead into the plethora of ships, firing numerous blasts to destroy some and maneuvering to avoid the lasers of others. Sunset then makes the Rustbucket go into a 360 nose dive as the rest of the enemy ships crash into each other and explode.**_

 _ **2:18 – 2:35 = Cuts to the entire second squadron lying in a grassy field of another planet, observing the beautiful night sky as they smile. Kyoya has his arm around Applejack, while Sakura scoots closer to Sasuke. Sting and Sunset are somewhat close, but do keep a considerable distance, which Lector notices worriedly.**_

 _ **2:36 – 2:52 = We then cut to Aggregor taking on the whole squadron, first knocking Alain away with the end of his spear before punching Kyoya in the face. He then proceeds to dodge a kick from Applejack and ends up throwing Luffy down onto her as he attempted to grab the Osmosian.**_

 _ **2:53 – 3:13 = Sting and Rogue perform a White Shadow Dragon Flash Fang, which is absorbed by Aggregor as he smirks menacingly. He attempts to send the attack back, but it's blocked by Sasuke in his Perfect Susanoo form, followed by Sakura, Star, and Sunset diving down at Aggregor with a look of fierceness in each of their eyes.**_

 _ **3:14 – 3:43 = Cuts to Professor Paradox and Ultear showing the squadron the span of timelines that exist in Ben Tennyson's universe, even taking them back to the day when he had first fought Aggregor when he had mutated. They then appear in the Forge of Creation, now carrying weapons and ammo they are prepared to take down Aggregor together.**_

 **END OPENING**

 **TRIP**

"Applejack!" Sakura Uchiha exclaimed excitedly before embracing the cowgirl in a loving hug. The two of them were so happy to see each other after so long. "How's Mackenzie doing?" she asked.

"Right as rain," Applejack replied with a laugh, "Apple Bloom's lookin' after her for the time bein', while we're gone on this little evil alien hunt," she told her, "That little Sarada been givin' you trouble?" she inquired as she arched an eyebrow.

"No, not really…" Sakura replied as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "I mean… practically being a single parent isn't the easiest thing in the world…" she admitted, "but I don't mind since it's Sarada," she added, "Though I'll admit, I'm glad to get a break and get back into action," she confessed as she punched her left hand.

"And Sarada's in good hands?" Applejack guessed as they walked towards the Omni Force Tower.

"Oh yeah," Sakura answered with a nod, "Tsunade's had a lot of time with Sarada after she was born, so I think she'll handle her just fine," she assured.

"All that's left is to take down this Aggregor feller," Applejack remarked as she held onto the straps of her backpack tightly. She and Sakura both had sleeping bags rolled up on top of their bags, prepared for a long trip ahead. Their husbands trailed behind them, with Sasuke hoisting his bag over his shoulder, while Kyoya had his upon his back.

"Hey," the beyblader greeted.

"Hi," Sasuke responded. The two didn't really have much to talk about. Though the shinobi had to wonder since this was his first time back to this universe since the Omni Force's battle against the Marines, which was almost a year ago. He narrowed his eyes onto the erected tower standing before the group.

' _Sunset…_ ' he uttered inwardly.

"Hello?" Sakura called out once she and the others entered the building.

"Welcome to Omni Force Tower!" a familiar voice called out, catching their attentions as they looked to see Kevin walking towards them, "Like the new digs?" he guessed to the group.

"Kevin, hi!" Sakura greeted as she jogged up and embraced him, "It's so good to see you again!" she exclaimed before letting go, "Oh, where's Gwen?" she asked curiously as she looked around.

"Still pregnant if you can believe it…" Kevin muttered in reply, "She said she's gonna get right back to work once the baby's out," he added with a chuckle.

"So… has anyone else showed up yet?" Sasuke asked, chiming into the conversation.

"Yoohoo!" a familiar voice cried out, followed by a shadow starting to loom over Sakura, making her look up and widen her eyes, "Big sis!" Star Butterfly screamed as she was falling towards the kunoichi. She only had practically a second to catch the Mewman in her arms and keep her balance.

"Oof!" she grunted as she let Star down, "Hey, Star!" she greeted excitedly, giving her a big hug, "Oh, I feel like it's been so long!" she exclaimed as she pulled herself back, "How's Mewniearth doing?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Oh, it's all good," Star replied with a wave of her hand, "Infrastructure's fine, monsters are treated fair, and we've even got great plumbing!" she listed off excitedly.

"And has anyone else found out about you still having magic?" Sakura asked on curiously.

"My mom almost caught me with my cheek marks once…" Star replied as she poked her heart marking upon her left cheek, "but I told her it was just makeup I wanted to try to feel… uh… nostalgic…" she claimed cheekily, leading to the two of them sharing a laugh.

"Hi, Star," Sasuke greeted as he went over to the pair, catching their attentions. Star frowned, putting her hands onto her hips.

"Hello… deadbeat," she remarked bluntly. Sasuke blinked in surprise. He looked over at his wife, who shrugged. "Oh, hi Applejack!" Star suddenly cried out, hurrying over to the cowgirl and Kyoya.

"Care to explain what that was about?" Sasuke questioned to Sakura, who sighed.

"She babysat Sarada once and asked what you were up to," she responded with a blank stare towards him.

"Sakura-"

"And you know, she's kinda right," his wife pointed out, interrupting him, "I know there's this danger that always seems to follow you…" she continued, grabbing his cloak, "but you should at least try to see your daughter every now and then…" she pleaded, looking up at him. Before Sasuke could respond, the sliding doors opened.

"Whoa-ho!" Monkey D. Luffy exclaimed as he set down his backpack, "The new tower looks great!" he shouted, stretching his arms up into the air. Walking in behind him was Alain Regulus, who glanced around in amazement at the scale of the tower. After hearing about its destruction about a year ago, he was shocked to see it in such mint condition in its second form.

"Luffy! Alain!" Sakura greeted, ignoring her husband for a moment as she jogged over to embrace the both of them.

"Huh," Sasuke exhaled out of exasperation, looking over at Kevin, "Do you know where Ben is?" he asked, catching his attention.

"On another mission in another world," Kevin replied, crossing his arms over his chest, "He's trying to help get this… team back together with the other Omni Force leaders," he explained as best he could from what his friend had told him prior to his departure.

"Hm," Sasuke hummed in response. What team was Ben trying to help get back together?

"Hey, where's Sunny?" Star asked as she glanced around the building's lobby.

"Down in the hangar," Kevin answered as he put his hands at his hips, "You all brought your sleeping bags, right?" he asked the group.

Sting's hands trembled as he tightly held onto the straps of his bag. The last time he'd been to Omnitrix City, it was decimated. And to see it back up to speed after a year was… incredible. That wasn't what made him nervous though.

"I can't believe you and Rogue never showed us this place!" Lector exclaimed as he hopped up onto Sting's shoulder, "It's amazing!" he pointed out, staring in amazement.

"Yeah…" the White Dragon Slayer agreed, though his mind was focused on other matters.

"Can we eat soon, Rogue?" another voice asked, being Frosch's as he was perched atop Rogue's head. The Shadow Dragon Slayer looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"Rarity still giving you trouble, dude?" Sting wondered as he arched an eyebrow and placed his hands at his hips.

"Ever since that day…" Rogue replied bluntly with a deep sigh.

"I don't see what's so bad about it," Lector noted as they walked on towards the tower's entrance, "I mean, you only have to deal with nine months of Rarity being pregnant," he pointed out, "and then you get a baby!" he added excitedly.

"Rarity…" Rogue muttered. Sting managed to chuckle. When he heard about Rogue getting his wife pregnant, he knew that it wasn't something he particularly wanted to do. Though he imagined Rarity thought Rogue would be a great father with all of his experience taking care of Frosch.

"Just be happy you're having a kid," Sting advised while folding his arms behind his head, "Some of us aren't that lucky right now…" he grumbled, looking down at the ground. Rogue snapped out of his sleepy state.

"Sting, if you wanna talk to her, then you should," he advised, "I don't think we've heard word from her in… almost a year now…" he realized. Sting stopped. He didn't realize how long it had actually been since anyone else aside from likely Ben or the others living in Sunset's universe were in contact with her.

"HEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!" Star's voice screamed in greeting, snapping Sting away from his thoughts as he saw the Mewman waving wildly towards them.

"All right, that's everybody," Kevin concluded, clapping his hands together as all of the second squadron members were gathered around him, "So just to remind you," he continued to the group, "this Aggregor you're all after is no joke," he told them, "If you fight him, you gotta make sure he doesn't touch you," he advised, "He's an Osmosian like me," he mentioned seriously.

"So he could absorb our powers…" Sasuke realized, narrowing his eyes.

"Ah, we'll be fine…" Star reassured with a simple wave of her hands, "More importantly, let's go find Sunny!" she exclaimed, racing off afterwards.

"Huh," Applejack chuckled, "Just like old times…" she recalled with a content grin on her face. Back in the hangar, Sunset was in the cockpit of the Rustbucket III, practicing on her guitar.

" _I love it when you call me señorita~…_ " she sang, " _I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya~…_ " she continued, " _But every touch is ooh-la-la-la~! It's true, la-la-la~!_ " she echoed quietly, " _Ooh, I should be runnin'~! Ooh, you keep me comin' for ya~!_ " she voiced. As she continued to play, tears were starting to form in her left eye. Music was meant to be a coping mechanism, but every time she tried playing, some semblance of her memories would rush back into her head. And she hated it. She wanted to be rid of those memories entirely, not just move on from it.

"SUNNY!" a voice screamed, causing her to perk up and widen her eyes in realization.

"Oh no…" she muttered, getting up from her seat and putting on her jacket. A pained grimace came across her face as she felt her scars get pressed on.

' _Don't think about it…_ ' she pleaded to herself, heading off. As the ramp into the Rustbucket III came down, Sunset looked out to see all of her teammates standing there. Some were just grinning, while others had the widest smiles on their faces. Star's was by far the biggest.

"Sunny Shim!" she exclaimed, leaping up and tackling Sunset in a big bear hug.

"Ow! OW!" Sunset yelped in agony, enticing Star to quickly let go.

"Ooh, sorry!" she apologized as she held her arms up in a placating manner. Some of the Omni Force members were surprised.

"No, it's fine…" Sunset reassured with a smile, "I'm just… sore from working out is all…" she claimed as she rubbed her left arm. The grin on Sting's face faded into a frown of realization.

"Hey milady!" Lector greeted as he hopped down and ran up to her.

"Hi Lector," she greeted softly as she knelt down, gently embracing him as he jumped into her arms. For a moment, Sting smiled. But he knew something wasn't right. "So… welcome aboard!" she exclaimed, gesturing towards the rest of the ship. Moments later, the team was inside the vessel's hangar, setting down their bags.

"Huh," Sakura uttered, noticing Kevin's car parked in the middle of the hangar, "Not a lot of room here…" she pointed out bluntly.

"I call dibs on the car!" Star exclaimed suddenly, trying to pry the driver's door open.

"Is Kevin seriously letting you take his car on this mission?" Sakura asked as Sunset approached.

"Ben told him he could trust me with it," she replied, putting on a hand onto Star's shoulder, enticing her to stop trying to open the door as she sheepishly chuckled, backing away, "Besides, I don't think anyone aside from me actually has a license in this group to drive…" she remarked with a smirk. Sakura giggled.

"So we're going to a place called Incarcecon…" Alain noted with his right hand upon his chin, "Anyone know anything about it aside from it being an alien prison?" he asked.

"It's gonna take a whole day for us to get there," Sunset answered as she stretched out her arms.

"How do we know this Aggregor guy's gonna even be there by then?" Kyoya asked cleverly with an arched eyebrow.

"Maybe there's a trail we could follow," Luffy suggested as he lied down on one of the benches, stretching out his arms.

"Exactly," Sunset concluded, "Once we make it to Incarcecon, we'll shut down the blackout field and find out exactly what happened," she explained to the group, "After that, our job is find Aggregor," she stated firmly as she started to walk off towards the cockpit.

"And then what?" Lector asked, arching an eyebrow. Sunset stopped.

"We either capture him or kill him," she answered as she turned her head slightly, "Ben told me he was on the death penalty anyways, so it doesn't matter," she pointed out before walking off.

"…Well, that makes things easier," Kyoya noted as he leaned back in his seat on the bench.

"We don't have to worry about holding back against him," Lector added as he placed his paws onto his hips in a smug manner, "I'm sure Sting could take this guy down no sweat," he mentioned confidently, catching the attention of the Sabertooth guildmaster, "After all, he's the White Gold Dragon Slayer!" he exclaimed.

"I wouldn't get too cocky," Sunset advised, causing him to perk up, "I've heard Aggregor's no joke," she mentioned, staring off to the side, " _Ben_ didn't beat him before," she told the others. They all widened their eyes in surprise.

"Whoa, seriously?" Sting questioned as he blinked, "Then… how'd he stop him?" he asked curiously.

"Look, I don't know the full details of the story, okay?" Sunset replied, holding her hands up in a placating manner. She sounded annoyed. "All I know is that this guy was dangerously close to ruling the entire universe at one point," she explained to them. Sting blinked. Hearing her now was… a stark contrast to a year ago.

"We'll look after each other, Sunset," Sakura assured, "You don't need to worry too much," she added confidently. Sunset looked as if she was trying to force a grin. It didn't show up on her face.

"Strap yourselves in," she advised, "The flight's gonna be a little bumpy going out," she mentioned as she walked off towards the bridge of the ship.

"…Is it me or does she seem a little… off?" Kyoya wondered once Sunset left the room.

"Kind of…" Alain concurred, "She's probably just stressed about the mission," he realized as he sat down on a bench beside Luffy.

"Yeah, the guy's almost conquered the universe!" Star pointed out, " _This_ universe!" she emphasized while picking up Frosch, "Honestly, I'd be more freaked out than she is…" she admitted.

"Just goes to show how Sunset deals with pressure," Sakura noted.

"Yep!" Lector agreed, "Milady's even better than… well… milady!" he mentioned proudly with his paws at his hips. Sting managed to give him a chuckle. But he noticed that none of the others had said a word. Obviously, they knew the truth behind Sunset's ordeal. She was nervous, but she was also hurting. Up on the bridge, she was flicking switches and putting her hands onto the wheel. For a split-second, she looked over at her guitar just lying on the floor. She shook her head.

"Stay focused…" she told herself, pressing a button upon the control panel and holding it, " _Hey guys,_ " she said through the loudspeakers, causing everyone to perk up, " _We're taking off. Buckle up,_ " she instructed as the hangar door to the ship closed. Without even missing a beat, the Omni Force members all took their seats on the benches and fastened their seat belts.

"Lector, you better buckle up," Sting advised, noticing that his exceed had yet to either find his own seat or just use someone's lap.

"Ah, relax," he responded with a slight wave of his right paw, "Milady's not gonna kick this thing into high gear that quick, right?" he guessed as he shrugged. The Rustbucket III's landing gear retracted as Sunset made it hover over the hangar floor. She then pushed the throttle forward, causing the ship to shoot out. "WAAAHHH!" Lector yelped as he flew face first into the hangar door. Sting cringed.

"Karma," Rogue remarked, earning a chuckle out of both Luffy and Star. Meanwhile, the ship soared through the clouds into space. Sunset looked out the window, spotting the Plumber Headquarters floating about in orbit. She pressed another button on the control panel.

"HQ, this is Sunset Shimmer of Omni Force Squadron Two," she communicated, "Requesting permission to jump to Incarcecon, over," she said. No reply came for a moment.

" _Request granted,_ " a familiar voice responded, making Sunset perk up in surprise, " _Good luck out there, Sunset,_ " he said.

"Thanks, Max," she replied with a small grin, letting go of the button. She then pressed another on the throttle, causing the ship to jump right into hyperspace, heading out for the alien prison…

 **X**

"Ow…" Lector muttered in agony as Sting placed an ice pack atop his head. With the Rustbucket III now in hyperspace, the trip was now going to be a lot smoother. Frosch was napping on Sakura's lap, much to Rogue's chagrin as he saw her pet his exceed.

"You know, we haven't been together as a whole team since the war against Alvarez…" she realized as she glanced up for a moment.

"Wrong," Kyoya chimed in as he folded his arms behind his head, "Me and AJ were the only ones who weren't there, remember?" he inquired.

"And whose fault is that?" AJ rhetorically asked in a blunt tone. Kyoya turned away, blushing a little.

"Heh," Alain chuckled, "The last time we were all together like this was back when we were off to Camp Everfree," he pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Sakura realized in response, "We were helping out Sunset, AJ, and the girls build that new dock as the camp gift for their class," she remembered.

"Not to mention that Alain and Kyoya got some sweet Demon Slayer magic!" Lector chimed in excitedly.

"Heh, heh…" Kyoya laughed, "I'd say that's nothing compared to Luffy's Fourth Gear and how he practically pounded Gloriosa into the dirt," he mentioned, causing the rubbery man in question to perk up.

"Everyone helped out back then!" he noted with a cheeky smile, "I'm just glad we all had fun!" he added, folding his arms behind his head. Everyone chuckled with him. Though their trip to Camp Everfree was a long time ago, they still had great memories of it. Kyoya felt Applejack lean against him, giving him a sweet smile. He smiled back. Though they were already a couple well before Camp Everfree, their relationship felt… cemented from that experience. And many others began over that stay.

"Hmm…" Star hummed as she narrowed her eyes onto the driver's door of Kevin's car.

"Star… what are you doing?" Sakura asked upon noticing the Mewman's rather odd method of inspecting the vehicle.

"I wanna know what's inside this thing…" she responded in a quiet whisper as she pressed her face against the car window, trying to peer in through the tinted glass.

"Star, it's locked," Sakura pointed out bluntly as she handed off Frosch to Rogue, "And I'm pretty sure Kevin wouldn't leave anything important behind in it…" she added.

"Then why would he leave it here?" Sasuke asked. Everyone went silent before simultaneously laughing aloud.

"Guess he must trust Sunset with it," Alain realized as he pulled out a granola bar from his bag. As he undid the wrapping paper, Star put her focus onto the keyhole upon the door handle of the car.

"All right…" she uttered, rubbing her hands together as she grinned deviously, "Time for mama to work her magic!" she whispered aloud. She pointed her right index finger at the keyhole. "Boop," she said, firing a small beam of magical golden light into the hole. The car door then opened. "Ha! I did it!" she laughed excitedly, swinging the door out and jumping inside.

"Star!" Sakura yelled, "Ugh…" she groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. Back on the bridge, Sunset could only chuckle as she saw Star rummage through Kevin's car on the security camera monitor.

"Oh wow…" the Mewman uttered as she emerged from the vehicle with two handfuls of crumpled pieces of paper in her hands, "Look at all these parking tickets!" she pointed out, handing them off to Alain to his surprise, "Boy, Marco'd have a heart attack if he saw those…" she noted, continuing to rummage around in the car's glove box.

"Star, get out of there!" Sakura yelled in a reprimanding whisper, "Kevin wouldn't leave behind anything in his car he didn't think was important!" she added seriously.

"Oh really?" the Mewman retorted with a cheeky smile, "Well… what about this?!" she exclaimed, coming out of the car with a small object in her hands.

"What is it?" Luffy asked, stretching his head over to see what Star had. Sakura got up from her seat and went over as well.

"It looks like a phone to me," Star replied as she handed it off to the kunoichi. She gave her a blank look.

"It's an old music player," she told Star, giving it back to her. The Mewman's eyes lit up excitedly.

"Ooh, there's gotta be hundreds of this universe's songs on here!" she realized, clicking the button to try and turn the device on. Sakura sighed.

"Star, that thing probably doesn't even work anymore," she pointed out, pinching the bridge of her nose out of annoyance. For it to have been over a year since the two last saw each other, it seemed like the former princess hadn't changed a bit.

"Au contraire, mademoiselle," Star remarked as a retort, "That's a French phrase Marco taught me," she noted with a sly smirk. Sakura rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. " _ **Electro Charge Shock!**_ " Star exclaimed as electricity suddenly buzzed through her hand holding the music player. Its screen lit up, followed by a guitar solo to kick off a song. Everyone perked up. "Told ya I could do it…" Star gloated with a boastful expression. Sakura could only chuckle.

" _I feel the wind run through my hair~… Top down, the sun's gonna lead us there~…_ " a female voice sang, " _Ray Bans and this six-four's all we need~!_ " she exclaimed.

"Who's singin', Star?" Applejack asked. The country-sounding style of the song intrigued her. Star looked at the screen, narrowing her eyes. The text was small on the small screen.

"Uh… ZZ Ward…" she answered after a moment of looking.

 __" _Don't let your head get in the way~… Just let your heart beat wild and free~… Open the door, jump in, turn the key~!_ " the singer's voice echoed. Sunset could hear the music from the bridge. Her breathing started to get heavy. Sweat trickled down her arms.

"Don't… don't…" she begged to herself, shutting her eyes. She wanted the music to just drown out of her ears.

" _I live my life out on the edge~! Yeah, I don't stop just 'cause it's red~! Let's push this thing, see what we get~!_ " the music sang over the drums and guitar, " _This black pavement, these yellow lines are pulling us into the night~…! I feel my temperature rise~…!_ " she echoed. Kyoya snapped his fingers.

"This is pretty good," he admitted, causing his wife to glance at him skeptically, "For… country, anyway," he corrected. Applejack smirked.

" _Ride, ride, ooh ooh ooh~! Ride, ride, ooh ooh ooh~! Ride, ride, ooh ooh ooh~!_ " the singer exclaimed repeatedly, while Star danced along, " _Ride, ride, yeah we gon' ride~…!_ " she echoed.

"Woo!" Star yelled, "Hey, someone should get Sunny down here!" she quickly suggested as the music continued. Sting perked up.

"Why?" Alain asked, having finished his granola bar.

"To party, duh!" Star retorted in response with drooped arms, "You know, take some stress off of this big mission!" she added as she danced along to the music.

"Uh, I'll go get her…" Sting offered as he stood up, letting Lector hop off of his lap. Rogue narrowed his eyes onto his guild mate as he left the hangar, followed by glancing over at Luffy and Sasuke. The pirate's head retracted before he shared a look with his teammates. Back on the bridge, Sunset was standing up from her seat, holding her guitar in hand.

' _Just… strum a few chords and…_ ' she tried to tell herself. The door slid open.

"Hey milady," Sting greeted, causing her to perk up in surprise to see him there.

"H-Hey…" she stuttered. Sting blinked in surprise.

"Uh, Star found an old music player in Kevin's car," he pointed out, gesturing back towards the door, "She wondered if you wanted to come down and-"

"No thanks," Sunset interrupted almost instantaneously. Sting blinked again. To see her acting this way was… astonishing. "Can you guys just knock it off with all that racket?" she requested rather bluntly, setting her guitar aside as she sat back down in the pilot's seat to take hold of the controls.

"We're just having fun, milady..." Sting responded, still surprised by her current attitude.

"Well you're not all here to have fun," she retorted, flicking a few switches with her fingers, "This mission's important not just to me, but to everyone in this entire universe with what's at stake," she explained seriously, "Ben hasn't even beaten this guy before," she pointed out, "So we have to be ready," she finished, inhaling and exhaling a slow breath. Her demeanor seemed so out of place, very different from what was almost a year ago. Sting understood a little about why she was acting this way, but also knew that she and her comrades had faced threats similar to the criminal Osmosian in the past, so this didn't feel all that different. The sliding doors to the bridge then opened, catching their attentions as they looked to see Luffy, Rogue, and Sasuke enter.

"Hey guys..." Sting greeted as he walked over to them, "Uh... I don't think now's the best time..." he advised in a whisper, holding out his hands in a placating manner to them.

"Sting, she hasn't told anyone else about what happened then," Rogue retorted quietly, which Sunset heard as she rolled her eyes out of exasperation, "They deserve to know everything, and she needs to be the one to tell them," he stated firmly.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Sunset inquired sarcastically, setting the vessel to auto pilot as she stood up from her seat.

"Then you know why we're here," Sasuke chimed in, going over to her, "Sunset, you can't expect us to not want to help you," he said, causing her to tense up as she shut her eyes.

"Yeah, we're all your friends!" Luffy exclaimed, "We aren't gonna turn our backs on you like Blonko did..." he mentioned, only for Sting to immediately slap his hand over his mouth, hoping that Sunset didn't hear the name. The name that scarred her…

"Huh..." she sighed deeply, turning away, "Blonko didn't turn his back on me..." she grumbled to the confusion of the others as they blinked, "He stabbed me in the back of my heart!" she yelled through clenched teeth.

"Sunset, calm down..." Rogue advised in concern, "We understand-"

"NO, NONE OF YOU DO!" she suddenly interrupted loudly as she sharply turned around and stood up to face them, with tears streaming out from her left eye, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE BETRAYED BY THE PERSON YOU LOVE, THE PERSON YOU CARE FOR!" she bellowed angrily, "These injuries, these scars... and this eye..." she listed off, placing her right hand over her right eye, "All of the sacrifices I made back then led to that..." she noted as everyone listened on in shock, even the Uchiha man, "And instead of caring for me, all he thought about was his own agenda..." she added, sitting back down, "He never loved me..." she finished, breaking down into sobs as she covered her face and fell onto her knees.

"Milady..." Sting uttered in concern.

"This was a mistake..." Rogue realized with a shake of his head, "Come on," he beckoned to his teammates, enticing them to follow him out of the cockpit. The white dragon slayer stayed behind for a moment, watching on at his crush's sadness with tears of frustration building in his own eyes. "Sting," his guild mate said, catching his attention as he looked to see him gesturing out of the area.

"Okay," he responded, walking out after taking one last look at the Equestrian magic user, who was heartbroken and torn apart mentally.

 **X**

Star snored as she slept in the backseat of Kevin's car. Music softly whistled into her ears through a pair of earbuds she had on. Almost everyone else in the hangar was fast asleep. Almost everyone.

"They're going to find out eventually," Sasuke whispered, sitting behind the car with Luffy, Sting, and Rogue.

"It's been a year already though…" the pirate pointed out, "Don't you think they would've figured out what's going on?" he asked the group.

"They haven't figured it out because they haven't _seen_ her in a year," Rogue corrected, "Huh…" he sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose, "…I think we should just tell them," he suggested. Sting immediately widened his eyes.

"What?!" he exclaimed in a whisper.

"Sting, these are our teammates! They deserve to know!" Rogue shouted back to him in a whisper.

"And you'd just betray milady's trust like that?!" Sting retorted a little louder.

"You can't just let her live a lie for the rest of her life!" Rogue yelled, "It's hurting her, too!" he pointed out angrily. Sasuke grabbed the Shadow Dragon Slayer's arm.

"That's enough," he advised in a soft, yet sharp tone, "We have to convince her to tell them," he stated firmly, "If the rest of the team finds out on their own or we tell them ourselves, it'll just make things worse," he added. Luffy, Sting, and Rogue gave off somber expressions. They knew Sasuke was right. But what was difficult about that was how unwilling Sunset was to even talk about what happened.

"Ah…" Lector yawned as he woke up, with Frosch leaning against his right shoulder. He took notice of Sting and the others chatting away in the corner. Before he could go over to them, he heard the faint sound of a guitar being strummed. His head turned towards the source of the sound, which appeared to coming from the bridge. Out of curiosity, he hopped off of the bench and tiptoed his way towards the door.

"All right, we should get some sleep," Rogue suggested as he stood up with the others, "If Sunset's right about Aggregor, we'll need to be ready," he advised, walking over to grab his sleeping bag.

"Yeah, good night…" Sasuke responded, sitting down next to Sakura and shutting his eyes. Luffy had already fallen asleep, lying down on the floor while blowing a snot bubble. Sting was just about to grab his sleeping bag and unwrap it until he noticed something.

"Rogue, where's Lector?" he asked, catching his guild mate's attention. Only Frosch was there sleeping on the bench. Moments later, Sting was a little panicked. "Lector? Lector!" he shouted quietly, hoping he would respond.

"Over here!" the exceed's voice suddenly whispered in a beckoning manner. Sting turned to see Lector sitting near the doors to the bridge, though far away enough so that they wouldn't open automatically.

"Lector, what are you doing?" the Sabertooth guildmaster asked as he went over to him.

"Shh!" Lector shushed, "I'm trying to listen…" he whispered. Sting arched an eyebrow.

"Listen? Listen to what?" he asked. He then heard the strumming of a guitar on the other side of the door.

" _You are, the only exception~… You are, the only exception~…_ " Sunset's voice sang as she strummed her guitar strings from within the closed-off bridge, " _And I'm on my way to believing~…_ " she continued, appearing to have reached the end of her song, " _Oh, and I'm… on my way to believing~…_ " she finished as tears were dripping down her left eye. A quiet sob left her lips as she brought her hand up to her face.

"…What do you think's wrong?" Lector asked Sting. He didn't respond. All he could do was clench his fists in frustration.

' _Has it been like this all this time?_ ' he wondered. His nose then caught a whiff of something. His eyes widened.

"Lector, let's go," he advised quietly. The exceed perked up in surprise.

"Don't you wanna see if she's okay?" he asked out of worry.

"I said, let's go," Sting repeated in a firmer tone.

"O-Okay…" Lector stammered, quietly following him out of the area. The night in hyperspace went on quietly as Sunset had a bottle of whiskey in her hand, guzzling down half of it before looking at the monitors to track the ship's course to Incarcecon. Three hours were what she saw were left. She shut her eyes.

"Ugh…" Star groaned as she awoke, opening the driver's door to Kevin's car as she fell out in her sleeping bag, obviously dazed and tired, "Anybody else hear a ringing in their ears?" she wondered as she took out her earbuds.

"Pinch your nose," a dressed Sakura instructed with her hands at her hips. Star stood up and did as told. "Now try blowing through it," the kunoichi advised.

"But you just made me plug my nose…" Star pointed out.

"Just do it…" Sakura sighed. Star took a deep inhale through her mouth and attempted to breathe through her nose. She felt air rush through her ears, much to her surprise.

"Okay, it's all gone!" she exclaimed happily. Sakura sighed out of exasperation. How Star was 19 and acted like she was 6… she'd never know.

"Everyone else ready?" Rogue asked as he put on his cloak, tying his black hair up into a ponytail.

"Pretty much," Kyoya replied as he stretched out his arms, "Did Sunset say how close we are?" he asked curiously. Rogue blinked.

"Uh… no…" he responded unsurely. Sting grimaced. He had a feeling he knew why Sunset hadn't yet made an announcement over the radio.

"Sunny! We're ready!" Star called out. No response.

"I'll go check on her," Sasuke offered, walking off towards the bridge. With but a glance towards each other beforehand, Luffy and Rogue soon followed him.

"Uh, hey! Wait up!" Sting yelled as he jogged after his three teammates. The others stayed behind with worried expressions on their faces. The bridge door opened, and Sasuke's eyes slightly widened.

"What the…?" Luffy uttered in surprise as he and Rogue arrived on the scene. Sting had just jogged up to them, with his nose twitching at the faint scent in the room. He gave off a saddened look in realization as he saw Sasuke pick up the empty whiskey bottle lying on the floor.

"Huh," he uttered in surprise, "So this is her way of coping?" he wondered, handing the bottle off to Rogue.

"Did she drink the whole thing?" Luffy asked curiously, staring at the empty bottle. All Sting could do was clench his fists in frustration. The sound of loud snoring interjected the group's thoughts. They looked over to see Sunset sleeping on the pilot's seat with a trail of drool trickling down from her lips. For the others, it would've been seen as funny. It wasn't to the men there.

"So she's been drinking ever since…" Rogue muttered in frustration, "Sunset, wake up," he requested aggressively. Sunset's eyes started to stir before she awoke with a groggy look on her face.

"Ugh…" she groaned, rubbing her eyes, "What… time is it?" she asked in between a short yawn. At that moment, the Rustbucket III exited hyperspace into a vast space filled with asteroids scattered about. "Oh… we're here…" Sunset realized, flicking a switch to disengage the auto-pilot as she took the controls. Rogue walked up to her side.

"Are you sure you should be flying?" he asked her seriously.

"Yeah, why?" she questioned back. All Rogue did was show her the bottle. She scoffed. "I'm not drunk," she told him.

"That's impossible. You drank the entire bottle," Rogue pointed out.

"Call it a 'perk' of my magic," Sunset retorted, "No matter how much I drink, I never get wasted," she explained to him, "Least now I know Rainbow could beat Cana in a match…" she muttered jokingly. No one laughed.

"Sunset, this is… dangerous…" Sasuke noted, "If you've been subjecting yourself to this-"

"I haven't subjected myself to anything," she interrupted, "I'm not trying to hurt myself," she argued, "I'm just… numbing the pain…" she said as she flew the ship past a few asteroids.

"But… why like this?" Sting suddenly asked. Everyone's eyes looked towards him. "Why not just talk to us? Or… any of your friends?" he questioned on. Sunset tightly gripped the wheel.

"…Because no one can relate to what I've been through…" she responded. The others tensed up at her words.

"Fine," Sasuke uttered after a moment, leaving the bridge as the doors slid open to let him through. Luffy hesitated, looking back and forth at the doors and Sunset before finally following Sasuke. Only the Sabertooth mages remained. And then Sting turned around and headed for the doors.

"Milady… we'll wait on your word," he promised as he exited. Sunset exhaled a sigh before glancing up at Rogue. He dropped the empty whiskey bottle onto the floor.

"They're going to find out eventually," he pointed out before leaving in a huff. Sunset let out another frustrated sigh. It seemed like Rogue was taking her current attitude personally. After a few minutes, the ship was nearing the docking bay of the Incarcecon prison.

"Whoa…" Star uttered in amazement, marveling the size and rather intimidating scale of the alien prison. Everyone else seemed just as awed. Sasuke, Luffy, Sting, and Rogue arrived and looked on as well.

"This is… daunting…" Alain admitted as his eyes shook.

"How do you think we're gonna find Aggregor in all this?" Sakura asked as Sasuke went up to her side.

"I'm sure Sunny's got a plan!" Star chimed in confidently.

"Hmph," Rogue scoffed as he picked up Frosch in his arms. Sting glanced away ashamedly, not noticing Lector hop up onto his left shoulder.

"Everything okay, Sting?" he asked.

"Huh…" Sting sighed as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, "Yeah, I'll be fine…" he assured. Lector blinked in surprise. He hadn't seen Sting with such an annoyed attitude in a long time.

" _We're entering the docking bay, guys,_ " Sunset's voice rang out over the intercom, " _Once we land, we'll split into groups and find out what's happened,_ " she explained to her team. The group all gave off serious expressions.

"What about the comms?" Sakura asked, catching the others' attentions.

"That's right," Sasuke noted, "Kevin said once Aggregor arrived, there was a communications blackout," he pointed out, narrowing his eyes.

" _I'll have to be the one to try and reboot it once we get there,_ " Sunset responded over the loudspeaker, " _I mean… none of you really have experience with tech like this and-_ "

"I can help ya!" Applejack offered as she pointed at herself, interjecting her friend, "Twilight taught me about computer hardware a few months back, and I've been doing maintenance on Kyoya's data drivers at TC for a while," she mentioned, elbowing her husband playfully.

" _Okay then…_ " Sunset replied just as the ship's landing gear was deployed, allowing her to safely park the craft once it got through the space field, touching the bay floor gently. The engines humming grew quieter before they stopped completely, followed by the ramp to the ship's bay opening up. As it touched the ground, Star was the first to skip down.

"Hello, Incarcecon~!" she sang excitedly, "Star Butterfly and the Omni Force are here to save the day!" she declared with her hands at her hips as the rest of the team came down the ramp.

"Huh," Kyoya uttered as he disembarked from the ramp with Sting beside him, "Thought there'd be someone to greet us when we got here…" he noted as he and the others curiously looked around.

"That might be the first sign something's wrong…" Lector noted. Sting sniffed the air before his nose crinkled.

"It sure stinks in here…" he grumbled, pinching his nose.

"All right," Sunset said, catching everyone's attention as she made her way down the ramp, getting her black leather jacket on, "AJ and I will head up and fix the communication grid," she told them, "After that, we can find out what's happened here," she explained, "The rest of you should split up into groups and look around for clues," she added to them, "I'd recommend having a Dragon Slayer to sniff out trouble in each group," she advised.

"So two groups," Alain concluded quickly, "Sounds fai-"

"Wait," Rogue interjected as he walked over, "I should go with you," he advised to Sunset, "If there are criminals on the loose, you'll need a Dragon Slayer to sniff them out," he mentioned. Sunset narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling she knew why he really wanted to go with her.

"All right, fine," she said, disregarding her thoughts.

"Guess we'll start checking things out!" Luffy declared as he suddenly stretched his arms up and wrapped them around the rafters before zipping to them.

"Make sure your MPG comms are on!" Sunset advised to the rubbery man as he unwrapped his arms, "That way if someone gets in trouble, we can all find you," she pointed out.

"We'll be fine, Sunset!" Luffy retorted as he swung off down the large hall.

"Hey, wait up!" Lector cried out, hopping off of Sting and sprouting his wings in a puff of smoke to fly after Luffy.

"Ah, Lector!" Sting gasped in surprise.

"Let him go," Kyoya recommended with a roll of his eyes, "As long we're in pairs, we shouldn't get too lost in this place…" he muttered.

"Uh, yeah…" Sting agreed, walking off with him.

"I guess we should try and look for any injured," Sakura suggested to Alain, who nodded.

"We'll try to stay by the ship in case we need to pull out," he mentioned to Sunset.

"Thanks," she replied, "All right, let's move," she ordered, jogging off with Applejack and Rogue. Star followed Sasuke down another hall, while Kyoya and Sting had left. Frosch looked around nervously as he saw that Rogue wasn't in the bay anymore. He just nervously skipped down another hall without even looking.

"Ergh!" Applejack grunted as she pried open the locked sliding doors. The lights flickered on in the security room as she, Sunset, and Rogue entered. "Well, where should we start?" she asked curiously. Sunset looked at the static on the holographic monitor.

"We should start by getting the cameras back online," she advised quickly, "Can you fix it?" she asked of her friend. She chuckled.

"Might be alien, but there's always somethin' to work with," she remarked in response. She knelt down and pulled open a panel, peeking into the hardware of the system. "Huh," she uttered in surprise.

"Something wrong?" Sunset asked upon hearing.

"Hardware's not damaged…" Applejack replied, taking out a glove from her pocket and putting it on her right hand before reaching into the console once again, "Just some wires pulled," she pointed out, feeling the loose wires in her hands, "And they aren't even cut…" she added with an arched eyebrow. Sunset's eyes slightly widened. Surely that couldn't have been the case…

"Hey, look," Rogue pointed out, catching the attentions of the two women as they looked to see him pull out an electric baton from a rack filled with them, "I guess the guards weren't able to get here in time…" he concluded. Now Sunset's eyes narrowed. Something wasn't adding up. She pressed her thumb against the center of her MPG.

"Sakura, Alain, have you two found anything yet?" she asked.

" _Not really…_ " the kunoichi replied over the line. She and Alain were venturing around the dimly lit halls of the supermax prison, looking around for signs of clues. "Hey, I noticed there weren't a lot of ships in the bay," she mentioned, switching subjects, "Do you think Aggregor escaped on one?" she asked.

" _Maybe…_ " Sunset's voice responded, "It all depends on what happened during the blackout," she noted, putting her hand onto her chin.

" _Sunset, come in,_ " Alain's voice called out through the transmission, " _I think we just found a few blood trails…_ " he said. Everyone in the security room tensed up at the news.

"…Can you see where they lead?" Sunset requested after a nervous breath.

"Will do," Alain replied from his location, putting his MPG back into his pocket before igniting his right hand with blue flames, illuminating the hallway brighter as he and Sakura continued to walk down it.

"AJ, you almost all set?" Sunset asked from back in the security room.

"Just one more…" the cowgirl muttered as she let out a grunt, reaching in to plug the last wire. A spark went off before the holographic monitor came on, showing off the feed of several security cameras. Sunset instantly counted 50. "Is it workin'?" Applejack asked as she got out from under the control console.

"Kind of…" Sunset replied with narrowed eyes. Over half of the feed was static. "We need to figure out where the feed's out," she concluded.

"Hey, look at that," Rogue pointed out as he walked over to the women. They looked to see a holographic image of the prison was right next to the camera footage.

"We need to isolate which sections lost camera footage, and when," Sunset realized, interacting with the control panel. Red and green markers appeared on the image of the prison. "Looks like section eight lost feed entirely…" she noted, "Supply vaults and medical centers are out, too…" she mentioned.

"Can we use this to keep track of the others?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, we can isolate their positions by tracking their MPG frequencies," Sunset responded, taking out her own MPG. As she typed on the holographic keyboard to adjust the settings, Applejack curiously noticed that Sunset's Fairy Tail mark was gone. She rose an eyebrow. Did she get it removed?

"Okay, done," she suddenly said, snapping Applejack away from her thoughts as she looked up to see white markers now apparent on the screen. One was moving rather quickly up towards the prison block.

"Must be Luffy…" Rogue realized, remembering he was the only Omni Force member to head off on his own. Sunset pressed her finger against her MPG.

"Luffy, you're heading towards the prison sectors of the station," she communicated to him, "See anything along the way?" she asked.

" _Nope, just a long empty hall!_ " he responded over the line, " _But I see something ahead!_ " he mentioned. Sunset looked up at the security footage. Camera 9 showed Luffy landing down in front of an elevator-like transport at the end of the hallway, with Lector flying over to him.

"Luffy, get into that elevator and head for section eight," Sunset instructed quickly.

"Okay, why?" Luffy asked from his location.

"Is there something weird in section eight?" Lector guessed with a tilt of his head.

" _We can't access the cameras there, so we need someone to check it out and tell us what's up,_ " Sunset replied through the transmission.

"You got it, Sunset!" Luffy eagerly responded, boarding the elevator. Lector followed suit.

" _Hey, milady?_ " Sting's voice suddenly sounded off through the communication line, causing her to perk up in surprise, " _I think we found some proof Aggregor was here…_ " he said. As Sunset pressed her finger against her MPG…

"What did you find, Sting?" Rogue asked, cutting Sunset off before she could even say a word. She seemed a little annoyed for a moment, but disregarded it.

"Well…" the Sabertooth guildmaster began as he and Kyoya were scouring through a dark supply room, as the former had his fist alight to illuminate the area, "there's a lot of dead aliens here…" he said. The entire room was painted with blood. Some red. Some purple. It was a horrifying scene of corpses all across the floor. "I think there's… probably twenty different victims here…" Sting mentioned. Sunset grimaced. It was one thing to be told the details of dead bodies. It was another to be told how many.

"…What are their wounds like?" she asked after taking a moment to recompose herself.

" _Deep cuts for the lot of 'em…_ " Sting's voice replied grimly.

"Does that sound like Aggregor?" Rogue asked, making Sunset narrow her eyes in thought.

"Do any of the bodies look shriveled up?" she asked. A quiet moment passed.

"… _No, there's just the cuts,_ " Sting's voice responded. Sunset looked off to the side in thought.

"What do ya mean by… 'shriveled up'?" Applejack questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"The victims of Aggregor's powers to absorb their energies all have a… similar outcome…" she tried to explain, "They look like raisins, basically…" she corrected.

"Huh…" Applejack uttered with a shudder. It definitely sounded creepy. Meanwhile, Rogue curiously glanced around the room. The guards hadn't taken their weapons, had the system go into a blackout, and were apparently missing…

"Is Luffy in section eight yet?" he asked Sunset, who was looking through previous video footage.

"He'll call when he's there, Rogue," she assured, rewinding the video to try and spot some form of clue. Back in the hangar, Alain and Sakura were examining another alien body they had found within the halls.

"Three cuts to the back…" the latter of the two noted, "…and a significant stab wound to both the chest and facial areas…" she mentioned, "And… a very potent smell…" she grumbled, pinching her nose.

"Do you think Aggregor used some kind of weapon?" Alain guessed, "A sword, maybe?" he suggested.

"Yeah, it's all possible," Sakura agreed as she stood up, putting her hand onto her chin, "But we need to know what exactly happened during the time the blackout started," she pointed out. Alain nodded in agreement. After several minutes back in the security room, the reports from the rest of the team were all the same. More dead bodies strewn about the prison. No word had come from Luffy though. As the group patiently waited for word, Rogue noticed another holographic screen in the room. It was similar to a computer desktop, but it only had one file on its screen. It was labeled 'REPORTS'. Rogue tapped the icon, bringing up the contents of the folder. He blinked in surprise.

"Sunset, take a look at this," he advised, causing her and Applejack to perk up and look over at the monitor.

"What in tarnation…?" the cowgirl uttered in complete confusion. Sunset stared at the uppermost file name. It read 'CHRONOSAPIEN ARREST REPORT – SUBJECT 83'.

"Pull that one up," she advised, pointing at the recent file. Rogue clicked it. Meanwhile, the elevator transport came to a stop, with a holographic 8 appearing in front of the sliding doors before they opened.

"Jeez…" Lector muttered as he and Luffy exited the transport, "I wonder what made this part of the prison completely blacked out…" he said as they took a few steps forward into the dimly lit area.

"Well, let's find out!" Luffy exclaimed as he hopped up excitedly into the dark area. As he landed down, Lector heard the sound of a crash, followed by metal clanking on the floor.

"Luffy!" he cried out, quickly flying over to where the pirate had supposedly landed.

"Ouch…" he muttered in agony as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Lector floated above him.

"Luffy, are you okay?" he asked in concern.

"Yeah, I think so…" he answered, trying to stand up. Some of the apparent debris shifted as he tried to put his foot down, causing him to yelp before he found his footing again. But at that moment, he noticed something. Lector did too as he blinked. Luffy was standing upon what appeared to be a pile of discarded robotic bodies. All of them had similar roundish builds with gear-like mechanisms visible through their torsos. They each had a windup key-like apparatus atop their heads.

"We gotta tell Sunset about this," Lector immediately realized. Back in the security room, Sunset was looking over the previous video footage. She noticed that there were weird traces of static in the cameras, including the ones that weren't disabled. However, she did find something weird. In footage that appeared to be from almost eleven hours ago, a dropship arrived in the hangar. There was no sound, but the footage showed Incarcecon guards aggressively dragging out the robotic-like aliens.

"Eighty-two…" Sunset counted as her eyes scanned the screen.

"Looks like all these Chronosapiens were transferred from different prisons around the Milky Way…" Rogue noted as he and Applejack were reading through the reports from each file.

"But all of 'em aren't bad enough to get transferred here…" the cowgirl noted as she curiously raised her eyebrow, "The worst ah've seen is petty theft… of a souvenir…" she pointed out. Sunset narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Do you think… Aggregor might have something to do with that?" Rogue inquired.

"…Probably…" Sunset replied as she shook a little. Rogue could tell she knew something. Or at least had an idea of what could have happened.

" _Hey… guys?_ " Luffy's voice chimed in over the radio, catching their attentions, " _I think we found something weird…_ " he said.

"What is it, Luffy?" Sunset asked, pressing her finger against her MPG. Back in section 8, Lector was floating over the lifeless pile of Chronosapiens as Luffy looked on from afar.

"We found… a bunch of robots in that place you wanted us to check…" he answered, tilting his head to the side curiously.

" _What?! How many?!_ " Sunset exclaimed in shock, causing Luffy to flinch in surprise.

"I counted eighty-one!" Lector yelled out from afar before Luffy could even say a word. The air in security room changed to a tenser one.

"Aggregor's absorbing the powers of Chronosapiens…" Rogue realized, "That's Ben's time alien, Clockwork, right?" he guessed.

"Why would Aggregor need time powers?" Applejack wondered as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"We better go and find out," Sunset replied as she hurried out of the room. Applejack and Rogue shared a concerned glance with each other before following her. Elsewhere on the station, Sasuke and Star were walking down a large, long empty hallway. The Mewman had her earphones plugged in, listening to tunes on the music player as she started skipping along.

" _Heyo~! I wanna pretend we're at the North Pole~…_ " she sang happily, " _Turning the heat into an ice cold holiday~…_ _Made just for me and my baby~! Ooh, ooh-o-o-o-ooh~!_ " she voiced aloud, " _My baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things~! Hey-ey-ey-ey~!_ " she echoed. Sasuke stared ahead blankly.

' _Why is she listening to Christmas music?_ ' he wondered. Star was just as random and bubbly as ever it seemed…

"Rogue…!" a familiar voice squeaked, catching Sasuke's attention as he turned to see Frosch skipping towards him.

"Frosch? What are you doing here?" he asked, squatting down to the exceed's eye level.

"Uh… I was… looking for Rogue… and… uh…" he struggled to respond, whimpering out of fear. Sasuke placed his hand atop Frosch's head, catching his attention.

"Don't worry," he reassured, "We'll get you back to him once we've finished things here," he promised.

" _COME AND GET YOUR LOVE~!_ " Star sang loudly from afar. Sasuke sighed deeply. Was she even paying attention to the mission at hand?

"Hey, Star!" he called out while picking up Frosch. She didn't respond. "STAR!" he yelled.

"Wah!" the Mewman yelped as her earbuds popped out of her ears, "Oh, Sasuke…" she exhaled, placing her hand over her heart as he approached, "Do you wanna give me a heart attack?!" she screamed angrily.

"We need to focus and find clues as to what Aggregor was doing here," Sasuke instructed in a strict tone, "Listening to music isn't going to help us…" he mentioned bluntly.

"Hmph," Star huffed as she crossed her arms and turned her head away, "Being a deadbeat isn't going to help either…" she remarked.

"Um…" Frosch uttered, noticing a sense of animosity in Star's tone.

"Do you even know why I can't visit Sakura and Sarada as often as you'd like?" Sasuke inquired back to the Mewman.

"Oh, please!" Star exclaimed, "I'd _love_ to hear it…" she muttered sarcastically, making Sasuke sigh. Just then, the sound of metal clattering on the floor caught their attentions. Sasuke immediately pulled out his sword.

"What was that?" Frosch wondered.

"Let's go check it out," Sasuke advised, carefully sneaking over to the corner where the sound was heard. Star and Frosch followed him closely.

"Confound these ridiculous…" a British-sounding male voice muttered from the corner as the two Omni Force members and the exceed went in. A rack of tools appeared to be knocked down in what looked like a storage room. Sasuke widened his eyes slightly at what he saw. It was a Chronosapien with silvery metal over his body and blue gears within him. "Ah!" he gasped upon seeing the Omni Force members there, "No! Please don't hurt me!" he pleaded desperately. Sasuke blinked in surprise.

"Sunset, what exactly do you think's going on?" Rogue asked as he and Applejack followed their squadron leader as she jogged down the hall.

"I hope I'm wrong…" she began, "but it sounds to me like the Incarcecon guards got paid off to bring a bunch of Chronosapiens here…" she explained.

"For Aggregor, right?" Applejack guessed, causing Sunset to nod, "Why would the guards wanna work for him?" she asked as she arched an eyebrow.

"And why wouldn't he just threaten to kill them?" Rogue questioned on.

"I'm guessing he needed their help," Sunset answered as she pulled out her MPG, "We need to tell the others before-"

" _Sunset!_ " Sasuke's voice suddenly rang out over the communication line, causing her and the others to immediately stop, " _We've got a situation,_ " he told her. She raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Cornelius, madam," the Chronosapien with Sasuke and Star said into the MPG held out in front of him, "I'm a chronologist intern on my home planet and a student in astrophysics…" he mentioned.

" _How'd you end up on Incarcecon?_ " Sunset's voice asked.

"Um… well… one day I was late for my class…" Cornelius began, "and… I used my powers to slow down time enough for me to arrive five minutes early…" he explained, "Afterwards, I was charged with an infraction of time manipulation and sent to jail for twenty-four hours…" he confessed, sounding embarrassed.

"A time crime? Seriously?" Star muttered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"During my stay, the guards told us we were being transferred to another facility," Cornelius added on, "They said Incarcecon was a checkpoint… but we were held there for about an hour before…" he tried to say, shuddering in fear all the while.

"Before what?" Sasuke asked.

"…Aggregor," Cornelius finally responded, causing everyone listening to widen their eyes, "It was awful…" he said, "We were led into one of the unoccupied prison sectors and left there," he explained, "After that, Aggregor attacked us," he told the Omni Force members, "He absorbed the energies of my fellow Chronosapiens one after another," he continued, "Some tried to fight back, but he was able to use their powers against them," he pointed out.

" _How'd ya escape?_ " Applejack's voice asked over the communication line.

"Same way I tried getting to school early…" Cornelius muttered in embarrassment, "I made it to the control room and sent out a quick distress signal before communications were blacked out…" he told them, "I don't believe many of my fellow Chronosapiens were able to make it out of there…" he mentioned.

" _Yeah… we just had a head count of eighty-one dead…_ " Sunset responded. Cornelius gasped.

"Oh dear…" he uttered out, shaking in fright, "I'm the only one left…" he realized as he trembled. From where Sunset and the others were, they gave off confused expressions.

"The only one left?" Rogue questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, didn't the reports say there were eighty-three Chronosapiens transferred here?" Applejack wondered aloud.

"Guess that means number eighty-three must be on the way…" Sunset realized as she narrowed her eyes, "Sasuke, Star, make sure Cornelius gets to the hangar," she instructed, "We'll take him back to HQ once we've got our hands on the guards who are working with Aggregor," she told them.

"Copy that," Sasuke replied from the storage area before putting his MPG away, "All right, let's get you back to the hangar now," he advised.

"Th-Thank you…" Cornelius replied, walking behind the pair of Omni Force members as they exited the room.

"So Aggregor was preying on Chronosapiens only?" Star inquired, "Why?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"We'll find out once we- Look out!" Sasuke yelled, interjecting his sentence as he grabbed Star and pulled her down to the ground to avoid a red beam of light shot their way, narrowly missing Cornelius as it blasted apart a panel upon the wall.

"Ah!" he gasped, turning his head to see who was there.

"So you've found yourself some friends, Cornelius…" Aggregor muttered as he stepped forward. Sasuke and Star stood up with widened eyes.

"Well… at least we know where he is now," the Mewman quipped.

 **X**

During their search for any wounded, Sakura and Alain found an alien that appeared to have died not from stab or slash wounds, but instead from the natural progression of age.

"I guess the word over the comms was right," the kunoichi realized as she finished looking at the deceased extraterrestrial, "Aggregor must be using the Chronosapien powers he stole on some of the prisoners," she explained.

"To practice, maybe?" Alain suggested.

"Probably…" Sakura agreed, putting her right hand onto her chin, "Anyways, we should head back to the hangar and get the ship ready," she recommended, "I bet the Plumbers have technology that'll let us track Aggregor by his energy traces… or something…" she pointed out with a shrug. Alain chuckled. Moments later, the two were walking back towards the hangar when they spotted a ship entering. On impulse, the two hid behind a stack of crates as the ship landed next to the Rustbucket III. Seconds later, the bay doors opened, with four figures coming down the ramp.

One had pale orange skin, a large head and wore an Incarcecon guard's uniform complete with two energy pistols and a stun baton. His black eyebrows and beard were pointed, and he has spikes on the sides of his head. His eyes were red and he also had a red crystal on the middle of his head. With that, he had three claws on each of his hands with the same colorization as his brain-covering scale.

The next individual was a human/Aerophibian hybrid, having vivid red skin and wings. She had three red eyes with black outlines and black lipstick, yellow horns and two small spikes coming out of the top of her head. She also had three fingers on each hand, a long tail, and dark red hair that barely reaches her shoulders.

The third person to emerge from the craft was one with a human-like body, but had the helmet of a Prypiatosian-B atop his head. He also had spiky ears. There were three holes on his helmet which glow red.

The last person to emerge was seemingly a lean human male, having a grey beard with his black and grey hair tied into a ponytail. He blinked in surprise upon seeing the Rustbucket III.

"Hey, Servantis…" he called out, catching the human/Cerebrocrustacean hybrid's attention, "Looks like Levin found out about the blackout…" he muttered, pointing at the ship.

"I knew we should've left the communications grid up once Aggregor arrived…" Swift grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It doesn't matter," Servantis retorted with an indifferent expression, "Leander, get the machine ready," he instructed to the human/Prypiatosian-B hybrid, "Billings, make sure the Chronosapien is prepared for absorption," he told the bearded man, "Swift and I will take care of Levin," he declared, walking off towards the hall. Alain and Sakura peeked out from the crates to see Leander and Phil go back into their ship's bay, while the other two were about to head down the hall.

"Sounds like they're with Aggregor…" Alain realized quietly.

"Which means we need to find out what they're up to…" Sakura concluded as she snuck out from behind the crates, "Go after the big headed guy and that Jetray girl," she instructed to Alain.

"Right," he replied with a nod, pulling out a shrunken Poké Ball from his belt. Back near the storage area, Aggregor aimed his scepter at Cornelius.

"P-P-Please!" he pleaded with a stutter, "You've already taken the powers of all those others!" he exclaimed, "What more do you want?!" he questioned, shuddering all the while.

"Osmosians are… always yearning for power," Aggregor replied with a maniacal grin, "And I yearn for you and your Chronosapien brethren…" he mentioned, causing Cornelius to gulp in fright.

"Well, you're not getting him," Sasuke chimed in, aiming his sword forward. Aggregor seemed to perk up at Sasuke's voice slightly. It was familiar… It was enraging…

"I don't intend on being stopped…" he muttered out. Star stepped forward, enveloping her hands with a magical golden aura.

"Well get ready to _be stopped_!" she exclaimed, firing off two beams from her hands. Time slowed. Aggregor ran forward, ducking away from the beams. To Star, she barely had a chance to see him coming before she was punched right in the torso, being sent flying away.

"Star!" Sasuke screamed, seeing her tumble across the floor. He managed to react just in time to stop the blade of Aggregor's scepter with his sword. As they clashed, Cornelius ran in fright. Sparks flew from the clashing blades before Aggregor sped around to try and get Sasuke from behind. The shinobi's Sharingan and Rinnegan quickly activated as he pivoted, striking his blade against Aggregor's, much to his surprise.

"You're quick," he complimented, not noticing Frosch tending to Star, who was struggling to get up.

"What do you want with Chronosapiens?" Sasuke asked, pushing Aggregor back slightly as their blades shook.

"To bring about a new reality…" he responded, swinging his blade up to knock Sasuke's out of his hand.

"…Bad move," he remarked, imbuing his extremity in electricity before striking Aggregor right in the chest with it.

"AGH!" he screamed, coughing up blood.

"I heard Ben Tennyson never beat you before…" Sasuke remarked, plunging his hand through Aggregor's back as more blood spilled out onto the floor, "Guess it's because he held back against you," he noted cleverly.

"Ergh…" Aggregor grunted in between coughs of blood, "This is unfortunate…" he grumbled angrily, dropping his scepter, "Now I have waste more of my power…" he muttered, much to Sasuke's confusion as he blinked. All of a sudden, a reddish aura shrouded the Osmosian, followed by time reversing almost instantaneously to the point where Sasuke was about to pierce through Aggregor with his hand.

' _What?!_ ' Sasuke exclaimed inwardly, seeing that he was about to attack a now unwounded Aggregor. And now having seen it coming, the Osmosian moved aside to evade the strike, followed by grabbing Sasuke at his neck.

"Agh!" he yelped, gritting his teeth as he glared at Aggregor. Star and Frosch's eyes widened.

"What just happened…?" the Mewman asked, having seen everything unfold, including the time reversal.

"In return, I'll be taking your power," Aggregor declared, tightening his grip around Sasuke's neck as he grinned maliciously.

"Sasuke!" Star screamed, desperately pushing herself up so she could at least raise her right arm, " _ **Narwhal Blast!**_ " she exclaimed, firing off an energy projectile in the shape of a narwhal from her hand. It struck Aggregor as he yelped, relinquishing his grip on Sasuke as he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Agh…" Aggregor growled, opening his eyes to reveal that he had the Sharingan in his right and the Rinnegan in his left. Star gasped.

"Oh, that's not good…" she realized with a gulp. Fortunately for her, Aggregor was actually focused on the hallway Cornelius had run down. The Osmosian ran off. Though to Star, it looked like he was speeding away.

"Hey, wait!" she called out, standing back up.

"Sasuke!" Frosch squeaked worriedly, going over and nudging the fainted shinobi. Star went over as well.

"Sasuke, you gotta wake up…" she pleaded, nudging him as well, "Oh boy…" she muttered in realization. She quickly pulled out her MPG. Back in the hangar, Sakura had snuck her way over to the ramp of the ship. She peered inside, seeing Phil pushing out a large cylindrical container. Inside it was a copper skinned Chronosapien who looked quite frightened.

"All right, subject eighty-three's ready," Phil said as he pushed the container down the ramp, "Got the machine ready, Leander?" he asked of his comrade inside, who merely shot him a thumbs up while interacting with a computer console, "Good," he replied, "We can finally be done with this and get the pay day and future we deserve," he added with a smirk.

' _Future?_ ' Sakura inwardly uttered out of confusion, ducking underneath the ramp as she saw Phil plug in in pump, connecting it to the container.

"Now we just need Aggregor," he concluded, placing his hands at his hips. Sakura had a feeling that whatever these people were planning with Aggregor, it had to do with the machine in the ship. She reached into her holster and pulled out a tag, sticking it onto the bottom of the ship. "Hey, Servantis," Phil suddenly said, catching her attention as she saw him apparently communicating to someone as his index finger was up against his right ear, "you find Levin or Aggregor yet?" he asked. Both Servantis and Swift were wandering about the halls of the station.

"Neither, I'm afraid," the former responded into the communicator within his ear, "Is the machine ready regardless?" he questioned. A moment passed. "Good," he communicated before bringing his hand down. Alain peeked out from the corner at the two.

"Servantis, do you believe Levin came alone?" Swift asked curiously.

"Not likely…" her superior muttered in reply, "The Plumbers being here would be bad enough…" he continued, "but if the Omni Force were here…" he kept going, narrowing his eyes in thought. As Alain took a step back, the metal floor creaked, catching their attentions. Swift quickly moved her tail and fired off a laser beam from its tip at the very corner. It struck, causing an explosion that blasted Alain back.

"Agh!" he grunted as he hit the wall, falling onto his rear end, "Ergh…" he growled, looking up to see the two hybrid aliens approaching him.

"It seems we have Omni Force members here after all…" Swift muttered as her eyes glowed a bright red. Alain enlarged the Poké Ball in his hand. Elsewhere, the elevator doors opened for Luffy and Lector as they exited.

"So we're just gonna go back to the ship and not keep searching?" the former of the two asked, sounding disappointed.

"At least we know Aggregor was here and everything," Lector pointed out, "Now let's get to milady and the others," he advised, spreading out his wings and flying off. Luffy was about to stretch his arm up to the rafters on the ceiling, but then noticed a figure coming towards him. It was Cornelius.

"Ah!" he yelped as he tripped, falling onto his stomach as he slid to a stop in front of Luffy.

"What the…?" he uttered in confusion.

"It's another Chronosapien!" Lector pointed out as he flew down.

"Eh…" Cornelius stammered, quickly pushing himself up, "P-Please… help me…" he begged, "Wh-Wh-Where is the hangar?" he stuttered in question.

"Uh… it's that way…" Luffy directed, pointing towards where Cornelius had come from.

"B-B-But th-that way is…" he whimpered, shuddering out of pure panic.

"You're making me expend too much of my current reservoir, Cornelius…" Aggregor's voice echoed, causing the Chronosapien to flinch before he quickly cowered behind Luffy, "and you're making me hungrier for more…" the Osmosian said, licking his lips as he stepped out from the shadows.

"Is that…?" Lector started to guess from above.

"Aggregor…" Luffy realized, glaring ahead. He then noticed the Osmosian's familiar eyes… Sasuke's eyes… He growled angrily.

"Hm," Aggregor hummed, "It seems you recognize something about me…" he concurred, smirking all the while. A black coating enveloped Luffy's arms as he gritted his teeth.

"I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" he angrily declared, charging out at the Osmosian. Back in the hangar, Sakura pressed her thumb against her MPG.

"Sunset, these guys are working on something for Aggregor," she whispered, "I'm trying to sabotage it, but I wanna find what exactly it is that they're doing…" she explained into her device. Just then, Leander came down from the ramp.

"What's up?" Phil asked upon noticing, "You hear somethin'?" he guessed. Just then, he noticed the shadow of a figure lurking underneath the ship. "Yeah, I see it," he noted. Sakura grimaced, quickly pulling out a kunai from her holster. However, reddish webs suddenly latched onto her left leg.

"What the-?! AH!" she yelped, interjecting herself as she was dragged out from under the ship, gasping at who originated from the webbing. It was Phil, but now as a mutant Terroranchula, with a greenish-silver, shining body with big muscles. His lower legs and arms were covered by olive colored hair and they had four sharp, tan-colored claws on each of his extremities. He had six short spider legs on his ribs, and small spikes on his shoulder and thighs. He had a mane and flipped up hair coming out of his neck, and red eyes and four small spider legs coming out of the back of his head. He also had a big mouth revealing his red gums and a line of tan teeth.

"Well, it's no Levin…" he mumbled aloud, grinning all the while, "but she'll work as an appetizer…" he remarked with a maniacal grin. A red light emitted from Leander's helmet as he aimed his grill plates down at Sakura, who grimaced. Just then though, a beam of red light struck Leander's head, knocking him onto the floor. Phil widened his eyes and looked back to see Sunset there at the doorway, ponied up with her pony ears, ponytail, and amber skin upon her form. Applejack was ponied up as well, while Rogue took a ready stance.

"Guys!" Sakura called out in relief, while Phil growled.

"Looks like this is a little more than just a buy off…" Sunset grumbled as a reddish aura shrouded her hands.

 **ENDING**

 _ **0:00 – 0:27 = Opens with the sun rising in the background as Sunset and Applejack are playing on their instruments. Meanwhile, the other members of the second squadron are watching the sunrise from within the Rustbucket III, smiling all the while.**_

 _ **0:28 – 0:52 = Cuts to the entire squadron playing the song on stage in front of a huge crowd of people; alien and human alike. Sting is on another guitar beside Sunset, Kyoya's playing the drums alongside his girlfriend, Sakura has a tambourine, Sasuke's on a keyboard, Rogue has a bass guitar, and Alain and Star both have microphones. The crowd is clapping along to the music, while Luffy is swinging around the rafters above with a cheeky smile on his face.**_

 _ **0:53 – 1:20 = Cut to a meteor shower hurdling towards the site of the concert as the group continues to play their song.**_

 _ **1:21 – 1:35 = Lector and Frosch take notice of the incoming meteors, panicking a little before rushing towards the stage through the crowd.**_

 _ **1:36 – 2:08 = As the group continues playing, the exceeds fly over and direct their attention to the oncoming meteors, shocking them before Sunset pulls off a wide grin of excitement.**_

 _ **2:09 – 2:48 = She enters her Phoenix Drive and obliterates most of the meteors with a single large beam of light shot from her right hand. Luffy follows up with a Gum-Gum Elephant Gatling, and Sasuke uses his Perfect Susanoo to take down a few more. The crowd cheers all the while at the sight as it looks like sparkling dust falling down from above.**_

 _ **2:49 – 3:22 = All of a sudden, the sky darkens and the second squadron notices that there is an army of robot soldiers led by Aggregor approaching them from afar. They all drop their instruments and gets into ready stances before rushing off to face him.**_

 _ **3:23 – 3:53 = The begins with Alain calling upon Charizard and using his Flame Demon Slayer magic with his partner's flames to scorch by a barrage of soldiers coming towards them. Kyoya shoots Fang Leone through several sentries before letting out a Lion Gale Roar thanks to his Wind Demon Slayer magic. Applejack kicks aside a few more of them, while Luffy charges through several with a Jet Gatling to knock them all away. Sting and Rogue use a White Shadow Dragon Silk to rush by and cut down even more soldiers. Sasuke lets many of the sentries burn away thanks to his Amaterasu, while Sakura through more with her fists. Star shoots down Rainbow Fist Punches from above in her Butterfly Form, flying over the army with a huge smile on her face.**_

 _ **3:54 – 4:27 = Cuts to Sunset facing off against Aggregor, dodging an attempted spear strike before engaging with him in close quarters combat, resulting in him grabbing her and attempting to steal her energy for himself. However, Sting jumps in and kicks him back, taking hold of Sunset's hand. Her eyes trembles before she smiles to see him and everyone else there to help, performing a White Dragon Equestrian Flash with Sting to strike Aggregor in a dust-filled explosion, while the blue sky returns with its bright sun.**_

 **END ENDING**

 **NegaiFreak: And… it's done!**

 **Sasuke Uchiha: How long has it been since you last updated a story?**

 **NegaiFreak: Too long if you ask me… Anyways, I didn't even finish getting done what I wanted to with this chapter! But I trust that you guys are all right with what I've got so far.**

 **Sakura Haruno: So what now?**

 **NegaiFreak: Well, the third chapter will include the rest of what I outlined for this chapter and everything that's supposed to happen in the next one. After that, I should be back on track.**

 **Star Butterfly: Ahem. Care to explain the whole delay lately?**

 **NegaiFreak: Huh… Look guys… I've made impossible promises lately. My family insists I just quit writing if it's not gonna make me a profit for my future. On top of that, I'm still in search of a real job aside from my part-time one.**

 **Alain Regulus: We understand that you're busy and all… But you were writing so much back when you had the last quarter of "Omni Force: WAR" to get done. Why are you writing so slowly now?**

 **NegaiFreak: Because aside from the questions on my forums distracting me along with YouTube videos, I've kinda been stuck in my own head on what I can imagine for stories. "RWBY: Omni Force", "The Challenge of a Lifetime", "Omni Force: JUSTICE", and so forth are all being outlined with amazing ideas I came up with on the fly. And yet, I can never motivate myself to get done what I want to.**

 **Applejack: It's okay. We all know ya got a life aside from this here writin'. Just do what ya need to.**

 **NegaiFreak: Thanks. So as I've said, please leave reviews after reading the chapter. They're very thoughtful and can be motivating. I'm really hoping that once I hit a stride of creativity and motivation, I can ride it to the completion of the first section of "The Challenge of a Lifetime" and finishing this story. But until then, I'll see you guys around.**


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